Forged in Water
by Mechalich
Summary: Hidden Leaf isn't the only village threatened by Orochimaru, the ninja of Hidden Mist have their own plans, and a shark-blooded ninja, Kisame's nephew, to set on them. Rated for dark themes emerging later in the story.
1. Prologue

Forged in Water 

**Author's Intro:** Ah, here I am writing another Naruto Fanfic, why do I keep doing this? Oh right, because I can't make the ideas leave my brain alone for long enough. Also, because Kishimoto keeps giving all of us fanfic writers such great opportunities. Hey, look, suddenly we all have three years to play with, no I don't have an excuse. So, that caused this story to get written.

First, apologies to anyone who had read part of my aborted story Storm Chains, that got kind of abandoned in the transition from summer to school, and I've since decided it was too big in concept to handle. This piece however got started over Thanksgiving, and so far I've finished all the long works I started over Thanksgiving. Anyone who did read any of my other stories will recognize some elements from those when they show up. Things have been slightly altered because this piece is not meant to be compatible with those, but the source ideas remain the same.

Regardless, this piece is an attempt to expand the world of Naruto a little by taking a look at what ninja from other villages, specifically the Hidden Mist village, might do when they learn a bit about Orochimaru's and the Akatsuki's plans. Almost all characters, events, localities, and techniques will be original, but the backdrop will be based fully on what has been revealed so far in the manga. This is also likely to be rather dark, the ninja of my vision of the Naruto world are not nearly as nice as the Leaf's, and these are not happy times. So, if that doesn't interest you, you've been warned.

Like all writers, reviews, both good and bad, are always appreciated and help to keep the story going.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.

Prologue- The Great Traitor 

(Six Years Prior to Current Manga Date)

In poetic versions of history it was called 'the day the shark turned his back on the sea.' More realistic observers had a somewhat less epic vision of the events, but they nevertheless acknowledged it was a terrible incident. For those personally associated with the events of that day it was neither of these things, but simply a most evil deed born from failure and resulting in tragedy.

Regardless of what the specifics were there was no one in the whole ninja village of Hidden Mist who considered this specific incident as anything but a case of self-serving and disgusting treachery.

Such were the memories of the day Hoshigake Kisame left the village.

As most momentous incidents do this one began quietly, under the awareness of a bare few people. A single conversation served as the trigger, one witnessed by only three men. It was a quiet conversation, but that's generally the only kind of conversation important ninja conduct. If such a person raises their voice it is a sign they have lost control, among powerful ninja this is a clear sign to the wise that the time to strike has come.

Yet a skilled ninja can be filled with murderous hatred and never lose even the slightest bit of control.

Still, Kisame enjoyed letting his anger show on his face. It scared others, made them terrified deep in their blood. He took a predatory satisfaction in seeing others look upon him as a killer. The shark features infecting his face and skin normally made this easy. A man with blue-scaled skin, bright gill slits slashed into the cheeks, pointed and sharpened teeth lacking even the slightest interest in vegetative matter, and soulless eyes devoid of pigment could not be mistaken for a normal human by even the least observant. Shark essence consumed the blood of Kisame and his kin, and he reveled in its frightful predatory alien-ness. Other humans were merely prey to one of his gifts, and he took a deep and hungry satisfaction in seeing it displayed in the recognition of others.

So it only fanned Kisame's anger that he was having no effect on the two men before him.

They sat across from Kisame at the low tea table. Steaming cups sat in front of each man, but neither had touched them. With baleful eyes and measured words they spoke, dictating things of great importance in Hidden Mist. These two men, of all the many hundreds of ninja in the village, outranked Kisame and had greater personal skill than the shark-blooded ninja: Mizukage and his Warlord, Akai.

Kisame considered himself a shark, a predator of exquisite personal skill, a precise creature honed to killing perfection. Perhaps he was, but if so Mizukage was beyond him, a whirlpool capable of stillness, motion, or abject destruction. Of an age with Kisame and Akai, the current Mizukage had risen to power in the great bloodline purges. He was a ninja of great strength and depth. Supremely talented in combat he was also a cunning leader with knowledge of manipulation and politics. Mizukage had built the ninja of Mist into a strong and deadly force through cold pragmatism. Merciless as the ocean, he was likewise unmovable and potent, but never cruel. Kisame despised his leader for several reasons, but never once thought the other ninja weak. Yet it was not Mizukage who worried Kisame, he met those dark brown eyes with his own cold and empty stare, undaunted.

It was from the brutal brown darkness of the Warlord's eyes that Kisame kept his gaze, eyes so pigmented as to be all but black with fury. Though he would never admit it, even to himself, and hid it so well that even as skilled a reader of emotions as Mizukage could not see it, Akai was a man Kisame feared.

Fear came to Kisame from twin sources, primal and personal. He might be a shark, a honed predator without peer, but Akai was an Orca. In the sea of Mist all were vulnerable to the Warlord, unmatched on the scale of raw destructiveness. Unswervingly loyal to his pack alpha, the Mizukage, no one else was beyond his reach. Yet unlike his master Akai was indeed a cruel man, and he had made it clear he believed Mist would be better served by his erstwhile comrade's death, and would do the deed himself if given the order.

The insinuation was clear in Akai's words now. "The results of the last mission were not acceptable, Kisame," Akai began, following an appropriate passage of time to signify the supposed drinking of tea. The Warlord was directly confrontational, not sparing his words, a legacy of his service on the battlefield.

Kisaem shot back just as quickly. "How so? I was successful in every aspect assigned," his anger, so obvious on his face, was completely absent from his words, though the shark-like voice could never be considered pleasant.

"Indeed you did," Akai acknowledged. "However, your failure in other areas outweighs those accomplishments by a wide margin."

"Outweighs?" Kisame was genuinely somewhat puzzled by the remark. "You've told me yourself time and again that completing the mission is paramount."

Sensing the opening, Akai seized it. He never lost an opportunity to take forceful command of a conversation. "It has taken a lot of work for you to come to understand such a simple thing, Kisame. I had hoped you might have absorbed why, but no, you have chosen to engage in activities that compromise this village's security even the youngest genin novice should know to avoid."

Kisame fumed silently, Akai's speech was measured, if undercut by the Warlord's inherent cruelty, using his remarks as sharp barbs. He gave no openings for Kisame to defend himself, conducting speech as if it was a battlefield. "Your actions have consistently revealed you Kisame," Akai continued. "Notably through a use of force that must be termed excessive even in the most tolerant of scales. This last mission you completed certainly, but you left ten ninja dead who could easily have been circumvented. Furthermore, you killed them using your highly recognizable personal sword style, leaving no doubt that you, and thus Hidden Mist, were responsible for those actions. You have compromised the secrecy necessary for ninja operations and invited retaliation."

"Is it not a good thing when our enemies fear us?" Kisame asked with a predator's grin.

"Yes, it is," Akai admitted without conceding anything. "Fear is an essential tool of the ninja, alongside stealth it is our most important tool, but it must be a certain kind of fear. Ninja must be feared as nameless workers in the shadows, never seen and completely unstoppable and unknowable. If they put a face to us it inspires retaliation, gives them something to hate."

"Then we should make them fear us more," Kisame replied.

"Unfortunately that is not within our power," Mizukage spoke for the first time. "If we were the sole ninja force in the world there would be merit to such an approach, but we are not alone. This incident will bear out a substantial cost in political and diplomatic repercussions. Additionally, though it was the most severe to date it was hardly the first. Regretfully Kisame, you have a history of making such mistakes as this. Another incident of this kind cannot be allowed."

"So what are you going to do, Mizukage?" Kisame laced his reply with barely acceptable hidden sarcasm.

"The necessary thing," came the simple answer. "I am going to take steps to prevent this from happening. Since you have proven you cannot curtail your own actions Kisame, we are forced to control them for you. Therefore, I am removing you from the roster for all missions."

"What!" Kisame did lose control here, and interjected an outburst.

Mizukage made no motion, but simply looked at the other ninja and Kisame said nothing more.

"You will no longer be serving missions beyond this village, but will instead be assigned to conducting the defense of Mist itself, and of course in time of war your skills will be heavily used. I acknowledge your substantial skills Kisame, and I do not intend to waste them, but your actions during missions have made you a liability I cannot afford there," Mizukage laid out his command. "Before you say anything, this is not open for discussion. You have made a mistake, and you will now bear the consequences. That is all."

"You'll regret doing this to me," Kisame spat.

"Perhaps," Mizukage replied levelly. "There is always a chance to make the wrong decision, but there is simply no option to let things continue as they are now." He paused, and then stood. "You have heard my decision Kisame, report to my office tomorrow to receive your full duties. You are dismissed."

Kisame rose swiftly, anger livid on his face, his gill slits burning red with his wrath, but he said nothing more, simply hefted his great sword Sameheda and walked out.

After he left Akai turned to his leader. "I still say we should get rid of him."

"I have no cause to justify such an action to his family and the village, and there is no way to remove him quietly," came the even-toned answer. "Besides Akai, besides you and me he is the strongest of us, and I cannot throw away such strength. Should a war come, Kisame would be invaluable. For now I must simply make certain he settles into his new role."

The ninja village of Hidden Mist is located on a small coastal island, off the shore of the great island that comprises the Water Country. It is a secure location, with only a few landing points and high, steep cliffs around much of the edge. A bridge connects the island with the shore, but the ninja have rigged it to collapse and keep it guarded at all times. With their security thus ensured against most threats the Mist ninja are sometimes lax in their watchfulness for those who might try to infiltrate their island, or those who are leaving.

A great monsoon only a week past had formed a grand sandbar near one of the small landing points, creating a spit of shallow water that extended much of the way to the mainland. As yet few knew of it, a minor oversight, and not one threatening to Mist's overall security, since a foreigner would almost certainly have missed it. This oversight would be responsible for a great tragedy, for Hoshigake Kisame knew of the sandbar's existence, and he had made swift plans after Mizukage's pronouncement.

Akai had not been naive, he suspected Kisame might try any number of foolish schemes to engineer his release from the restrictive order, and so a ninja was ordered to watch Kisame. This ninja was competent, but hardly high class, truly skilled ninja had better things to do. So when Kisame went down toward one of the docks his shadow lost track of him for a time and was not very concerned, knowing that even one blessed by shark blood could not swim to the mainland from such a distance, and the ships were barred to him.

It was an unfortunate mistake. One Kisame had counted on. He crept away from the docks with openness, appearing to simply be walking about the cliffs, something he had done commonly for training, so no one present there remarked it. From there he slid between rocks and then reached the concealed sandbar, his feet touching sand beneath only a few bare inches of water. _Only a shark would know this place was here_, he thought as he fled.

Had his escape been so simple the day would not have been remembered with the importance it held, but Kisame found he was not the only one on the sandbar.

Only a shark would have found the place, but Kisame was not the only shark in Mist.

Crack! The sound struck through the air, jolting Kisame like a bolt of lightning. Crack! Again the sound came, and repeatedly, with rhythm, the surging sounds of ninja sparring with wooden weapons. Kisame looked out and saw two others before him, both ninja, one a young man, the other a boy of ten years. Both had the pale blue sharkskin, gill slits, and empty eyes of Kisame. Other members of the Hoshigake family practiced here.

The sandbar was thin and open, there was no use for stealth here, and so Kisame came forward easily, walking steadily. He was revealed instantly.

With shock the two men turned, and Kisame saw and recognized them from the spears they held, his cousins. The older one was an ANBU member, Hoshigake Naki, the boy a newly made genin, Hoshigake Ise.

Naki saw Kisame and a look of dread spread across his face. He had heard the ruling passed down from Mizukage earlier that day. It was not hard for him to guess what his uncle was doing, and he knew the consequences. Smoothly he grasped the wooden spear haft in steady hands and spun. The spear twirled and with a swift hand Naki unwrapped the cloth binding masking the bright steel spearhead. He held the weapon before him, ready.

The younger Ise saw this in shock, his brother barring steel as Kisame approached. It confused him, for he did not understand what was happening. _My uncle is a terrible man, I know_, he thought, _but we are all family, why are weapons drawn?_ Kisame taking the great sword Sameheda from his back punctuated his thought. The weapon was a masterful device, as tall as Kisame's own great height, and crafted not as a blade, but as a shark's skin is, a ruthless construction of seamless shearing teeth, able to rip flesh clear to the bone with a single stroke.

"What are you doing here Kisame?" Naki called, foregoing the use of 'uncle,' knowing that he faced the other man as a ninja, and not as a family member.

Kisame did not mince words. "I'm leaving." He spat. "Get out of my way now and I'll let you live, for the blood's sake."

Naki swallowed, and he knew what he had to do.

Ise, standing behind his brother suddenly grasped the situation. "Uncle no!" He shouted, voice straining with fear. _Naki will die!_ His mind screamed silently.

"Quiet Ise," Naki said, placing his right hand on Ise's shoulder. Then he whispered. "When I give the word, run as fast as you can, get help. He can't be let leave."

"I said get out of the way!" Kisame howled, and he raised Sameheda.

"You will not leave this village while I breathe," Naki said in steady tones, though Ise heard his brother's ragged breathing like thunder in his ears. "I will uphold the orders of Mizukage."

"Then you will die!" Kisame showed no remorse, but smiled as a cruel predator, and he charged.

"Run Ise!" Naki shouted, and slammed his brother to the side. Naki leapt left, to the very edge of the sandbar, and hastily his hands shot through a sequence of seals, gathering chakra together, and sending it streaming into the water around him. "Water Element: Sweeping Breaker no Jutsu!"

The sea rose up before Naki, taking the form of a crashing wave that rose up three times the height of a man and surged down upon Kisame.

Sameheda slammed down into the sandbar and Kisame's hand sflashed through their own seal sequence. "Water Element: Water Shark Missile!"

Surging with terrible force a shark-shaped form of water blasted up from about Kisame's feet to slam into the oncoming wave and smash it apart. The scouring blast of water continued through to slam into Naki, knocking him to the surf. He was up a moment later, unharmed, for the force of the blast had mostly dissipated against his own jutsu, and the water around him had cushioned his fall.

There was not a moment more, for Kisame was on him then, Sameheda slashing in with terrible force, the tall shark ninja able to wield the massive blade in one hand due to his tremendous strength, and with great speed as well. Naki dared not take the blade across the haft of his spear, but knocked it aside with the butt of the weapon, and circled around. Kisame came back just as quickly, striking from above and then below, and Naki was thrown off balance, knowing it was only a matter of time. He counter-struck low, a jab at the knees forcing Kiame back for a moment, and letting Naki dare a glance toward the island. _Yes!_ Elation surged in him. _Run Ise! Run fast as the waves, and all may not be lost!_

Ise ran, never once looking back. He was young, but he was a ninja, he understood what was happening. Kisame was among the village's strongest ninja. _Brother will die!_ He could feel it is his bones and shark-tinged blood. _I must hurry. I must hurry!_

From the sandbar Ise came leaping over the rocks, his loose gray hair flying wild in the wind, and his eyes blinded by the madness of running. So it was that he ran almost full tilt into another man who appeared before him in the docks with eye blink suddenness. Ise slammed to a stop and the breath slammed from his body, so before he could speak his head jerked around, looking desperately. The man before him was tall as Kisame and wore a sword of equal length, inspiring a moment of terror when images of Naki dead flashed through Ise's mind as he thought his uncle had come to slay him, but then he saw the eyes. _Black not white…the Warlord!_

"What is going on genin?" Akai asked with impatience.

"My brother!" Ise screamed. "He's going to kill Naki!"

"What?" and for an instant the Warlord's face was colored in confusion, and then it was gone as his mind connected the pieces of the puzzle almost instantly. "That traitor!" He growled with terrible force. "Where boy!"

"The sandbar!" Ise pointed with a shaking hand.

"Show me, now!" Akai demanded, and he all but threw Ise forward.

The return passed in mere moments of breathlessness, but to Ise each one seemed and eternity, for with every scourging step he saw an image of Naki slashed apart by Sameheda before his eyes.

He reached the sandbar in time only to see it all come crashing down.

With a roar of triumph the great sword slashed across, shark teeth shearing away sharkskin, and flesh and bone, leaving Hoshigake Naki a dismembered body bleeding into sea and sand.

"Brother!" Ise howled in agony. Not so soon as his lungs had emptied he screamed again. "I'll kill you uncle!"

Kisame turned with a brutal grin formed of sharpened teeth. "Foolish boy, come here and…" The taunt never finished as Kisame's face went pale as he saw the man who stood next to the young genin. The tall and muscled figure of cold face was the one Kisame most dreaded to see now.

Akai put a hand on Ise's arm, holding him back. To Kisame he spoke. "There is but one fate for traitors Kisame. Death!" His right hand went back and he drew forth his own great sword, a massive blade whose edge waved back and forth, an image of the sea's motion. "You've cost us a good ninja, and so you die now."

Kisame raised Sameheda. "Try it lapdog."

Akai leapt forward.

The Warlord came in high, both hands on his sword, the blade in a mighty down-stroke. Kisame blocked, but the force of the blow was massive and he was forced to scamper backwards over unsteady sand. He grabbed Sameheda in his left hand and brought it around for a swift blow to wad off his opponent, but Akai blocked it and sent Kisame reeling backwards, sword out of position.

Knowing he could not block now Kisame changed tactics. "Water Element: Wave Blade no Jutsu!" The waves all about both fighters formed into knife-edges and surged toward Akai's legs.

"Heh, foolish," the Warlord spat, and countered swiftly. "Water Element: Whirlwind Wave Blast!"

In a circle about Akai the water roiled and surged, and then blasted upwards and outwards, and surging tower of spinning water that traveled outward and smashed apart everything in its path. The bladed waves dissipated uselessly as it swept over it and Kisame had time only to raise Sameheda before him in a desperation blocking maneuver and the blast crashed about him. A moving wall of water struck him head on.

Kisame's vision cleared a moment after the immense blast finished, and he whirled, bringing Sameheda around in a wide arc.

"Too slow," Akai's voice announced coldly. "You've been bruised enough you won't be able to dodge in this footing." He raised his sword in both hands again. "Good, since you can't block me." The Warlord's hands moved with a violent suddenness, and his sword moved.

It spun.

Akai's hands moved with a steady motion, and his massive sword, over six feet of blade, just like his height, whirled in midair even as it traveled in sweeping arcs. A living buzzsaw was revealed, the true terror of the man who was the best of Mist's Seven Swordsman, Akai of the Spinning Sword.

The Warlord advanced and spun his blade around, brutally fast; so quick Ise, watching the two men fight, could hardly follow. Kisame, knowing blocking would only ruin his own precious weapon, tried to pivot aside, but was not fast enough. His right leg slipped against the sand, and for a moment the edge of Akai's blade spun over it.

The results were horrific. One moment Kisame's thigh was normal, the next it was a mass of blood and torn muscle. The shark-blooded ninja stifled a cry, but could not contain a shocked grunt.

"Now you die, traitor." Akai proclaimed.

"No," Kisame grinned with a sickening pleasure. He rolled backwards, buying a brief moment of space and sheathing Sameheda over his back in the process. "You won't get me." He brought his hands together into a single seal. "Shark Frenzy Waves."

_Forbidden!_ Akai and Ise thought as one. Then the sea exploded.

Water went everywhere, blasting in every direction, fighting itself in a desperate attempt to smash everything nearby. The fury was tremendous.

"Water Element: Water Wall no Jutsu!" Akai protected himself behind a wall of water, forming a solid cube about him even as great blasts of crazed ocean smashed against it. Ise leapt high, back to the rocks, and avoided the strike, but he saw the results.

Kisame was struck full bore by the maddening technique, which saw neither friend nor foe, and he was picked into the sea, but the greater affect was had upon the sandbar. Water surged and struck everywhere about it, and as by the time his water wall dissipated Akai found himself swimming. Kisame was several hundred yards away, having swum underwater the whole time, for he could breathe through his gills, and never surface.

"Goodbye Warlord!" Kisame called. "You'll never catch me now!"

"Damn you traitor!" Akai shouted in anger. "This will not be forgotten, you will die for this treachery!" Yet even as he shouted the Warlord knew it was useless. Though he could use his chakra to run across the water, it would only work for a short distance. Kisame could swim with the speed of a shark, and with such a lead as he had would not be caught. Akai would send out searchers to prowl the shore, but he already knew Kisame would escape them; the man was far too skilled to be caught that way. _I should have killed him when I had the chance_. Akai decided. _Mizukage, it seems we are to regret this decision, the shark man was mad. We should have remembered better, the bloodlines can never be trusted. _With resolve he made one final decision. _Don't think you can escape Kisame, it will be at Mist hands that you die, I swear it._

Akai swam back to the shore slowly. There on the rocks he saw the boy Ise standing stock-still. As he walked up to the boy the young ninja whispered a single sentence. "My brother is dead."

"Yes," Akai answered simply.

"My uncle killed him," Ise said slowly. "My uncle is a traitor."

"Indeed," Akai replied.

"There is only one fate for traitors," Ise spoke with the voice of the ageless shark now, not as a ten-year-old boy. "I will kill my uncle," Ise said with terrible finality.

The Warlord looked down at the boy. _This one is also a shark, and he has potential, or so it has been said._ Cunning and cruel was Akai's mind, trained by years of hellish warfare and battle. He saw an opportunity. "Should you get the chance, see that you do." He told Ise. Then he went to share the news with Mizukage.


	2. Chapter 1 Gazing into the Future

Author's Notes: So, the real beginning now, with chapter 1. This of course, is set much more I line with the current date on the manga, but I've done my level best to avoid any but the most extremely general of spoilers, so people who haven't read up to it shouldn't worry. 

Some answers for reviewers, and hopes for more:

Nara Shikamaru: Sorry about the errors, I try, but you can never catch them all yourself, and course that relationship mistake. Ise is definitely Kisame's nephew, not something else

Rock lee shroom: How many chapters? I've haven't the slightest idea. I do have a general plot outline, but I don't know how many chapters that translates into. I am trying to do more short scenes in this piece, with a greater number of perspectives, instead of constantly being locked into one viewpoint, so that makes it even harder to gauge.

Chapter 1- Gazing into the Future 

(1 Week after Sasuke abandons Konoha)

Mizukage sat in the tall chair that stood in the center of his office. It resembled nothing so much as an austere throne, but Mizukage would seriously injure anyone using that term for his chair. He was a leader of ninja, nothing more. Ruling was a matter for Daimyo and other lords; ninja were servants, valued and intelligent servants certainly, but still nothing more than servants. Such was the creed he lived by, and the rule all Mist ninja obeyed. Yet though he might not be a ruler, as leader of the most militant village of ninja in all the Great Shinobi Countries Mizukage's power over those beneath him dwarfed that of many of his fellow kages. Such was the way of the Mist ninja.

The man who stood before Mizukage now stood out as well, a ninja who had no counterpart in the other villages, the Warlord Akai. As leader of the elite Seven Swordsmen of Mist, the group founded by Mizukage during the purges, and director of the forces of Mist ninja on the field of battle in the Kage's absence Akai held a unique position. He was second in command of his village; no other group of ninja organized themselves in such a way. This arrangement existed because of Akai's nature, a ninja of great strength, ability and combat acumen, yet one who had no desire for ruling, or any skill at it. Akai saw all difficulties as problems to be obliterated beneath violent force. Peace was a foreign idea to him; if enemies existed then all should be sent toward their obliteration. Thus, he could not have led his country to other than war, but at such he excelled.

Akai's nature was not uncommon among ninja, who are after all trained as weapons from a young age, but there was a trait to him that was indeed remarkable, his loyalty. The man held no ambition whatsoever to usurp his leader's position; it never even entered his thoughts to consider such a course of action. He would counsel and make his views known, and disagree when he believed Mizukage was wrong, but he would never disobey. Ninja from other countries had called Akai 'the Mizukage's tamed monster' and the Warlord did not mind the label in the slightest. Indeed the two were close friends, a great rarity among ninja of high rank and similar age, no rivalry stood between them.

So it was Akai Mizukage had called to him before all others when disturbing news first reached him.

"You sent for me, Mizukage?" Akai confirmed. He was tense, for he knew it was rarely good news to meet with Mizukage unscheduled.

"I did," Mizukage answered easily. "I have learned something of great importance, something greatly disturbing."

"What is it?" Akai asked, wanting the bad news delivered swiftly.

Mizukage handed him two scrolls. "I have reports from our spy in the Leaf village, and the one in Sand we sent to follow the anomaly named Gaara. They are disconcerting." Mizukage sighed. "You should read them yourself."

Akai took the scrolls, unstrapped his blade from his back to sit down on the floor, and proceeded to read through the reports carefully. At points he paused, making note of important points. He said nothing until he was finished, at which time he rolled the scrolls up and handed them back to Mizukage. "Disconcerting indeed." He grimaced. "It is like receiving a prophecy."

"Yes," Mizukage nodded. "That is indeed what it is like. We have seen what is coming, but now we must determine what to do about it. A complicated matter, and one I doubt will be satisfying."

"Yes…" Akai paused. "Who would have thought the Leaf were so weakened, and that they would make such a foolish mistake in hiding it?"

"It is their new Hokage," Mizukage replied. "The medical specialist of the Sannin, Tsunade. She has been away from the ninja world too long, and she missed the attack on Konoha, so she doesn't know."

"Bah!" Akai spat. "It's still a foolish mistake, she had to know that Gaara creature would have spies following him, he transformed into a gigantic sand demon. Now we have learned Konoha needed the Sand's help to deal with one escapee because of that, their weakness is clear for all to see."

"True, but that is a minor point now, it would have become clear eventually. It seems we are lucky to have learned of greater threats at the same time." Mizukage replied. "Otherwise there might have been a war."

"There could still be a war," Akai said with a hungry undercurrent. "If the Daimyo underestimate the threat of Orochimaru."

"I will counsel against it," Mizukage replied. "I will be believed I think." He grimaced at his Warlord. "Besides, we shall have a war soon enough."

"Three years…" Akai looked at the wall for a long moment. "Damn Orochimaru anyway, the stinking traitor needs to die."

"Three years regardless, unless the Leaf manages some miracle, which I doubt, given Tsunade's caution. A medical ninja should not be a kage; it will come to grief for us all because of that. We can no longer rely on the Leaf as the strong force in the center. That leaves us and Stone as the strong ones. Sand is devastated and ever unpredictable Lightning lies to the north." Mizukage looked to the north then. "I wonder about the Lightning."

"Politics is your business, Mizukage," Akai interjected. "What plans should I make?"

"That is why I have called you here, Warlord," Mizukage grinned gently with the minor jest, but then returned to all seriousness. "We must make plans to prepare, we have three years. What do you wish to do?"

Akai mulled over it for a moment. Three years, and they had little more. It was only certain that the shinobi world would explode at that point, when the plans of the Akatsuki and Orochimaru finally came to fruition. _One thing I do know, a thing different from past wars_. "The sharingan." He hissed.

"What about it?" Mizukage prodded.

"That is the one thing changed from before, the Leaf once held the sharingan, now it does not. The last two inheritors are with the Akatsuki or Orochimaru. With that power held only by those two, it is the cause for greatest fear. The armies of Mist can meet whatever else comes, I can train ninja and you forge alliances and plans, but none of that serves as a counter to the sharingan."

"So we must ready a force to counter the sharingan," Mizukage suddenly scowled. "Don't tell me Akai…"

"The sharingan is the power to see through illusions, but more importantly it is the ability to copy and counter other techniques," Akai nodded, a scowl on his face as well. "To fight the sharingan requires weapons it cannot counter, cannot copy, and that means bloodlines."

"Damn!" Mizukage slammed his fist into his chair. The stone seat was solid, and it was painful, but he ignored that utterly. "The sharingan ought to have been purged along with all the others. Bloodlines bring nothing but trouble. Still, if you require them as weapons then I will countenance it Akai, but they will never control this village again."

"I agree entirely, we both bled in those purges, and the price we paid was worth it, high though it was. I have no intention of unleashing that again," He stopped, and his hand gripped the sword hilt behind him. "Yet to prepare for war you gather weapons and train in their use. To fight the sharingan I will need weapons."

"How many of these should we gather you think?" Mizukage questioned. "The fewer the better, lest we create a worse problem than the one we end."

"True…" Akai thought about it, idly spinning his hands about the hilt of his sword. "Well, in this it might be best to follow the Leaf's lead. They have three Sannin, and each is training one to replace them, if you count that traitor Uchiha boy. So, we should have three weapons to match."

"Three to counter the sharingan indeed," Mizukage chuckled. "A three against two advantage if it comes to it. I agree. Three is a proper number. However, we don't have three bloodlines here, we purged almost all of them. So, what do we do to gather these weapons?"

"We have at least one here, not a bloodline, but likely better. The sharingan might try to counter that method, but it would fail miserably," Akai smiled with predatory anticipation. "Yes, that one for certain. I will insure her training myself."

Mizukage nodded. "I agree, but what of the other two?"

"There is a bloodline, you remember it I'm sure, one younger than all the others," As Akai spoke Mizukage realized what his Warlord was suggesting, and proceeded to pass through shock, anger, and then finally a ruthless anticipation in turn. "A power that developed even as the other bloodlines began to decline, a power more terrible than anything else I've ever seen, and one allied to no village. That is the weapon I would desire above all others."

"Mizuho," Mizukage finished for him. "Yet how will we get it, the clan has gone into hiding, no one has seen anything of them for years."

"I don't know, perhaps we must just send someone forth and hope." Akai shrugged. "I have no better idea."

Now it was Mizukage's turn to find an inspired idea, one spurred by his Warlord's words and they cunning intellect that had insured his position as leader in this cruel and competitive village. "You said you needed weapons Akai, but perhaps there is more than one way to acquire them. Could we not send one on a journey in order to have it awaken through the fires of battle?"

"You're right of course," Akai remarked with a conspiratorial grin. "Many of the greatest ninja have emerged from blasted battlegrounds and bloody sojourns to dominate their era. I believe we even have the perfect candidate."

"Who?"

"The is a member of one of the few bloodlines we let live, a boy of great potential but who has done little so far: Hoshigake Ise."

"One of the shark-blooded?" Mizukage thought for a moment. "Wait, Ise is the boy who saw Kisame kill his brother when he escaped. He is the one member of that bloodline I am certain is loyal to this village."

"Yes, and perhaps sending him out into lands where his uncle is known to roam will motivate him to great things," Akai added. "Besides, despite his potential, Ise is merely a chuunin of moderate value at the moment, should he fail we will have lost nothing important otherwise." He concluded, displaying his callous cruelty.

Mizukage nodded again. "So, to gain two weapons from one endeavor. Do it Akai, immediately. Three years is not so long a time as it seems, and I will not waste a moment of it."

"As you command." Akai rose, strapped on his sword, and prepared.

"You sent for me, Warlord?" Hoshigake Ise bowed as he approached Akai's desk and attempted to conceal his nervousness. The sixteen-year-old chuunin had been in the Warlord's presence many times, but he had never become truly comfortable with this terrible man.

"I did," Akai said sternly. "I have a mission for you, one that may be rather involved and take a great deal of time."

"A long-term mission Warlord? Such things are usually assigned to jounin, I am only a chuunin." Ise answered nervously, wondering what was going on.

"Indeed, but this mission is being assigned to you, unless you have a legitimate objection?" The Warlord raised an eyebrow as he stared at Ise through those blackened eyes.

"No, no, of course not Warlord." Ise hastily replied. "It was just unexpected."

"Good," Akai replied. He continued simply. "Your mission is not complicated. You are to seek out a member of the Mizain clan, wielders of the Mizuho bloodline power, and bring one back to Mist to join our forces."

Ise heard the words, and then repeated them inside his head, trying to sort out the meaning. "I'm supposed to kidnap another ninja?"

"No, not unless absolutely necessary," Akai told him. "It is better if one comes willingly. You are empowered to threaten war with Mist if none of the Mizain agrees, and anything else up to that. The true difficulty is likely to be finding them," Akai handed Ise a small scroll. "The Mizain clan has hidden themselves away to avoid prosecution, their whereabouts are unknown. This scroll contains everything we have managed to learn about them. At the moment they are suspected to be hiding out in one of the lesser countries west beyond the Fire Country. Begin your search there."

"I'm being sent beyond Mist country?" Ise asked suddenly.

"Yes," Akai replied without feeling.

_Uncle is out there!_ Ise thought with an unstable mixture of panic and hatred. "Why am I being sent on this mission Warlord?"

"Because you are expendable," Akai answered, remorseless. "You have the necessary skills to complete the mission, the probability of success does not substantially increase if we were to send a jounin, and so the risk to us is lower if you go."

"I see…" Ise managed, and he did understand, intellectually. He was the Warlord's tool, as they all were, and he was to be risked instead of a more valuable tool. _It doesn't matter,_ Ise thought_, I will complete this mission. I will not fail us!_ "How much time do I have to complete the mission?" He asked.

"Two years, eleven months," Akai replied without hesitation.

"Three years?" The surprise was clear in Ise's reaction. "Why so long?"

"This mission must be completed before three years pass, time is the only constraint for failure. Do not return without one of the Mizain before then." Akai gave Ise a dark smile. "I would hope that this could be completed faster, however."

"I shall endeavor to proceed with all speed," Ise confirmed.

"Good," Akai handed Ise a small bag. "Here are the funds necessary for two months' operations. Should you require more, make contact with our agents abroad and they will know to supply you. There are two other things here as well, one should only be used at greatest need, the other, I suspect if the time to use it comes you will know."

"You honor me, Warlord," Ise saluted him.

"Oh, no young chuunin, I am likely sending you to your death," Akai smiled again. "Don't thank me for it."

Ise could not tell if Akai was trying to intimidate him, or truly expected him to die, but he put the best face he could on it. "I shall not fail sir."

"Good, I will await word of your success then," Akai tapped his desk idly. "I believe that is everything. Oh, yes, I've arranged transportation for you to the coast of the Sound country. I am quite certain the Mizain are not hidden within the bounds of Fire country, so I would have you avoid that nation."

"Yes sir."

Akai made a motion of dismissal. "That's all then, you depart in four hours. Pack whatever supplies you need and get going. Oh, and do remember to travel in disguise."

The offhand remark caused Ise to look away instinctively, and cover the shark marks on his face. It had only become more pronounced as his ninja career continued; when he became a chuunin the color faded from his hair, leaving it gray. Last year his eyes had lost all color as well, so he now resembled no one so much as his traitorous uncle Kisame. Ise knew what it meant, his family knew that the shark blood was strong in him, and he hated it. _A shorter version of the great traitor. why must I look like this? The power of the shark is not worth this curse._

As Ise departed Akai smiled deeply. _He seems ready to be tested_, the Warlord decided. _To find a weapon and unlock another at the same time, it is the perfect plan. You had best succeed Hoshigake Ise; there will be much work for a predator in the years to come._ When the thought completed Akai put the chuunin out of his mind, the matter was concluded. _Now, to see to the third weapon._


	3. Chapter 2 Leaving Shore

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.

Author's Notes: So, new chapter, and Christmas break has started, so hopefully I can keep things going while at home. Anyway, this chapter continues Ise's tale, and adds some important explanation. 

To the reviewers: The Mizuho power as used in this story is not precisely the same as in Behind Killer's Eyes. The time continuums of the two stories are not the same. I'm using Mizuho because I felt it was a cool idea, and because it greatly fits the themes of this piece, in addition to providing impetus for the essential journey. This chapter and subsequent ones will explain just what's going on it this story, but basically the power will function in similar ways to behind killer's eyes, but the background will be different.

Chapter 2- Leaving Shore 

(immediately following)

Ise stepped out of the Warlord's office with his thoughts whirling. He was still trying to absorb what he had been ordered to do. _I have been sent beyond Mist for the first time. It is hard to believe_. For a long moment he stood at the door, catching his breath and gathering his thoughts. The Warlord's presence had rolled over him during the conversation, and he had not truly absorbed what had been said. _I am to find the Mizain clan._ Such was his mission, but Ise could not understand why. _What reason is there to bring back a single ninja of some hidden clan? And a bloodline limit to boot. There is no need for bloodlines here, my own is more than enough._

Then he remembered the name of the bloodline: Mizuho. _The water fire ability? A strange power, why does the Warlord want it?_ Ise thought for a moment, and then he realized the answer. _Akai is preparing for something; he concerns himself only with war._ With that Ise grasped a key piece of the puzzle. _Three years…there will be war in three years, and we must have the Mizuho before then._ The importance of his mission crashed down on him with a suddenness, and Ise knew that he must maintain the words he had told the Warlord. Failure could not be allowed.

The chuunin's revere was broken by the approach of another ninja. There were many ninja in this building, but this one approached the Warlord's office directly, and there was something odd about her. For a moment Ise thought she was injured, for her motion was strange, abnormal. The ninja was a young girl, likely not more than thirteen, but she moved like no one he had seen before. _It is inhuman, how can a person walk like that?_

Walking was not perhaps the correct term to describe the disjointed hopping, sliding motion the girl engaged in to maneuver. It was a choppy motion, lacking rhythm and flow, but it conveyed alien lethality from the very basis of its movements, and Ise soon realized what he was seeing. _The Stomatoa girl, this is the prodigy, Saki_. Ise had heard of her of course, they all had, the girl from the strange, all but forgotten family who had defeated her academy instructor in battle on her first day in class. He wondered at her presence here, coming to the Warlord. She had risen to the rank of genin merely days in the past; it shocked him that she should be meeting personally with such a powerful ninja.

Saki slid next to Ise in the next moment, and he could not resist the impulse to say something. "The Warlord has called for you?"

It was a foolish question, and both ninja knew it. Saki need not have bothered to reply, but she did, turning up to face the much taller Ise. The shark-blooded ninja was reasonably tall, but Saki's shortness surprised him. _She is small, compact, hardly what I expected_. "Have you become his door guard, Chuunin Hoshigake Ise?" She asked him seriously. Her voice was unexpected; it was simple and kind, a contrast to the deadly image of her frame.

"No, no," Ise felt foolish. "I'm sorry, but your presence surprised me. It is not normal for a genin to be summoned here."

"Yes," Saki replied. "I do not know why this has happened, but I have been called before the Warlord. I was told he was to supervise me for the next three years himself."

_Supervise her training? Three years?_ Ise's face darkened. He looked down at Saki, a girl with a peaceful face, but an obvious knowledge of death dealing. _They say she is a true genius, youngest child of the Stomatoa, trained since before she could walk in their inhuman art._ He looked at her with sadness now, knowing what was coming for certain. _In three years there will be a war, and this girl is to be a champion of Mist, as is the one I am to find._ Ise felt a great deal of fear then, for he had learned ninja history as had all chuunin. The wars of the ninja were sudden things, prone to launching at the whimsy of daimyo or sudden shifts in the power balance. _How can they know a war is coming so far away? What has happened?_ Though this all worried him greatly, he kept it from his words. "Three years you say? I have just been given a mission of the same length by the Warlord. Perhaps we shall see each other again when the time is done." He offered he a light smile.

"Perhaps," Saki replied. "That might be nice."

A simple comment, but Ise could read depths beneath the words. _This is no normal ninja girl. She is something different, a creature apart, like me._ He could recognize the alienation now, having lived for six years in the shadow of his uncle's treachery. _I see why Akai has taken her for war_. Silently he wished Saki luck, for he knew her road ahead would be hard. _Likely harder than my own voyage_, Ise grimaced. "I'm sorry, I must be going, and I should not have kept you from your meeting. Feel free to blame me if he's angry," Ise turned away from her. "Good luck in your training, I shall expect to see great things by the time I return."

"Good luck to you as well, Chuunin Ise," She smiled and waved as she said the words, but there was a deep sadness in Saki's eyes Ise could not possibly miss.

_Good luck indeed, I suspect we shall both need it._

Ise jogged out of the building then, knowing he would have to hurry to pack his equipment and say goodbyes to family and his comrades. The prospect made him slightly sad, but not greatly. As the great traitor's cousin he had few friends, only a few ninja teammates he served with. Likewise his family was not so close. His mother had not been the same since Naki was slain by Kisame, and his father had always silently cast the blame on Ise for his older brother's death. It was an old wound, one that time had worn mostly away by now, but Ise would not mind leaving the household behind. _I have been sent abroad for the first time, into the land my uncle roams, a traitor and a criminal. I must be prepared, and I will keep my promise to the Warlord_. Ise knew the debt he owed the Warlord well, the man had saved his life six years before, and the shark-blooded ninja had not forgotten. _This mission may have little chance for success, but I cannot fail Akai's trust in me, even expendable as I am. I will not fail!_

The origin of most bloodline abilities is lost to history. They originated in ancient times, before the great ninja wars that racked the land prior to the formation of the hidden villages. At the end of those wars survivors came to rest in each of the villages, and their bloodlines carried on within that framework. Not so the bloodline of Mizuho, carried by the Mizain family. It was born in a recent era. The power was first recorded in a village-less ninja only sixty-two years in the past. That ninja's name was Mizain Lee. Lee's power garnered him notoriety, and he joined the village of Mist only a year later. Soon after he married and his children showed the signs of the bloodline.

Mizain Lee's service to Mist was excellent, but his powers through Mizuho were weak, so much so that he rarely used the abilities of the Bloodline and relied on more traditional techniques. It seemed the power would be of little note. Yet, Lee's oldest son, Mizain Mihiro, demonstrated a power in the bloodline that far outstripped his father's, and his younger brother, several years later, likewise demonstrated greater faculties. This was little remarked at the time, for Mihiro became a ninja during a ferocious war with the Lightning, and fighting raged for years. Yet thirty-nine years ago, when the fighting was done, Mizain Lee was dead, and Mihiro and his six younger siblings were all alive. Each one had a power greater than their father.

Mihiro and his siblings married, and their children in turn inherited the power of Mizuho, and when they became ninja they were also stronger. The power was now a force to fear, and the first whispers of its other, darker, name could be heard at this time "Demon Fire." The whispers were kept quiet, however, for at this time the bloodlines ruled the village of Mist, as they did most other villages, and none questioned them. It would take nineteen years for the situation to change.

History records elsewhere the story of the rebellion against the corrupt bloodline rulers of Mist, and the purges that followed, a necessity for the rebellion to succeed. Most bloodlines fell in that bloody time, with ninja of all villages turning on those who bore inborn gifts, and hunting them down. Only those bloodlines that made deals with the new leaders and swore away leadership survived, and those like the Mizuho, who fled.

Mizain Mihiro had intended to fight the rebellion, for he had risen high within Mist by that time, but it was not to be. Mihiro, like many of the bloodline endowed leaders, had become lazy and was vulnerable. In this case it was not the un-blooded rebels to who Mihiro was vulnerable, but a member of his own family, his youngest son, Mizain Yuki. Yuki was a mere ten years old, but he was already a ninja of great power, his mastery of the Mizuho was far greater than any other who came before him, and perhaps any who has come since. He challenged his own father and smote him down with Mizuho, taking leadership of the clan by force. Though reluctant to follow a ten-year-old boy, none dared challenge him, and many were secretly relieved when he gave the order to flee rather than fight.

To a ninja the Mizuho vanished, taking with them all the spouses and relatives who did not bear the power as well, a desertion of several score ninja. It is not known where they went at that time.

Since the purges ended I have been the Mizukage, leader of all ninja in Mist, and all reports are open to me and all rumors find their way to my desk. Yet in that time I have seen but three mentions of the Mizain family or the bloodline to which they are heir. They have hid themselves well, and I believe the reason is clear. Mizain Yuki grasped, as his father had not, that the bloodline's power was growing with each generation. He has hidden his people until they grow to such strength as none can challenge him. Having seen the powers of Mizuho in use, I dread the coming of such a day. I am uncertain how we can stand against such power. As always, this confirms to me that Akai and I made the correct decision those twenty years ago, bloodlines should all be destroyed.

In twenty years there have been but three reports of the Mizain, and these are the only clues we have as to their whereabouts. The incidents are as follows: a spy received a letter from Mizain Yuki, or at least signed in his name, acknowledging my position as Mizukage, but that they were no longer Mist ninja, and so had no intention of returning. This was nineteen years ago, and the spy was in the western Fire country. Twelve years ago one of our allies in Hidden Rain reported seeing 'the rain fall as fire' upon a group of grass ninja along the Rain/Grass border. Most recently, a sand ninja was found dead in the grass country with a series of dot-like burn marks upon the body after an unknown ninja was reported prowling the area. This took place two years ago in southeast Stone country. I believe the wounds are the marks of Mizuho use. There have been no more reports, but these incidents point to a region near or possibly within Grass country.

All reports of the appearance of any known Mizuho wielder are twenty years old, and therefore useless, but the bloodline does have significant marks that reveal those who inherited its power. Wielders of Mizuho have reddish hair streaked with aquamarine, and had a tendency to wear it long, though this may no longer be the case. All Mizains also had red eyes, a very distinctive marking. The Mizuho itself is impossible to confuse with anything else. The power to make water burn is distinct, unique, and terrifying.

-Hiramitsu Osamu, 6th Mizukage

Ise read through the scroll again, he had lost count of how many times he had read the words, written in Mizukage's own hand. He rolled the scroll up again now, and placed it back in the pocket of his flak jacket, to sit alongside the other scroll the Warlord had given him, his travel money, and one other item. _All we know about the Mizain family can be summed up in so few words. A bloodline that lived with us for over three decades, and this is all we know of them. Truly the ninja of Mist were reborn in the purges as it is said. _The philosophical view was interesting, but it hardly satisfied Ise's needs. He was instead left to search without hardly any clues, save three disconnected and old incidents and a simple description. He had no idea how he was supposed to find ninja who had concealed themselves so fully for over twenty years. It seemed impossible. Now he understood why Akai had given him the full three years, it seemed likely that he was to wander about a great deal of the shinobi countries before finding the Mizain.

_It will begin in Grass country; I must go there first_. Ise had determined that much in the weeklong boat voyage from Mist to where he was now, docking on one of the few ports in the devastated Sound country. As the boat approached he could see the town was in poor shape, buildings scarred by fire and neglect dominated the waterfront, and the people seemed dispirited and withdrawn. It was a tragedy.

All ninja knew the story by now, how the ambitious lord of this unnamed region had taken a powerful ninja up on the offer to establish a hidden village in the country, and how that ninja had turned out to be Orochimaru, the infamous Sannin traitor of the leaf. Orochimaru remained at large so far as Ise knew, but his minions had been defeated and dispersed following an unsuccessful surprise raid on Konoha during the chuunin exam. Orochimaru had abandoned those servants, and now they wandered across the country as rogues and bandits. Other missing-nins had come to the lawless land as well, and all order was breaking down. The bordering Lightning country had threatened to invade simply to keep order if the mater continued, but the threat had done nothing to support the unstable land. Crossing Sound would not be a trivial task, especially alone, and Ise had given up all hope of an easy beginning to his mission once he saw the ruined harbor.

Now the shark-blooded ninja stood at the rail of the ship beside grim-eyed mercenary ronin who served as guards to the merchant captain. Ise's true mission was masked beneath a cover of serving as an additional guard for the merchant captain, who had feared to make the run to Sound without additional support. The young chuunin kept a tight grip on his spear as ropes were thrown and sailors scrambled over to make fast the mooring. The dock appeared secure, but Ise knew if a gang were to attack it would be now, when the crew was distracted.

When the ship was safely moored and no attack came Ise relaxed. He went to the captain to get his payment and nervous thanks, and then disembarked. As he walked down the gangplank and took in the town Ise remained unsure if the strong show of force had dissuaded an attack, or if there had been no attack in the offing. _I must watch my back here_, he decided.

As Ise walked about the harbor town, seeking a moderately reputable inn where he could stay the night, he was struck by an odd sensation. The people here did not stare at him. Always before, walking in towns outside Hidden Mist his strange looks drew shocked stares and horrified reactions from most. Ise was so surprised by the lack of such fear here that it took him a moment to remember the masking henge genjustsu he now wore at all times. He appeared as a dark-haired boy of absolutely no remarkable features now, and when he compared his new reaction to the old sadness crept sickly into Ise. _The mask I hide behind now is better regarded than my true self_, he reasoned with disappointment. _How pathetic_.

The lack of attention carried another message Ise found distasteful, one of foolish ignorance by the townsfolk. Though he masked his shark-touched features, Ise in no way concealed his identity as one of the ninja of Hidden Mist. He had expected questions from the people of the harbor, for he knew no Mist ninja had passed through the Sound country since Orochimaru's defeat, yet there was nothing. Everyone traveling the streets ignored him, even as he could feel eyes upon him from the shadows. _I wonder if anything remains of the network Orochimaru established here_. Ise considered cautiously. _If so, then these bandit Sound rejects may be very dangerous._

Shadows stretched over the harbor town as the sun fell slowly out to sea. Having seen few other choices Ise doubled back to the harbor and sought lodging in one of the taverns there. The chaotic residences of sailors were not his first choice, as violence there would be less remarked. The mist ninja had no idea what level of control the sound country still held over this port, but he had no wish to find out whether it would protect a mist ninja disappearing in the night. _I may have to avoid most cities until I get out of this country_, Ise decided. It was a setback he did not need, for he would have difficulty gathering information until he left sound. Still, the road was safer.

Despite his concerns and nervousness, Ise passed the night in relative safety. He was brought to wakefulness only three times, and only once did he leave his room with spear in hand. There was no trouble for the mist ninja, however, only the unfortunate events of a town without law, as Ise witnessed a sailor knifed in his bed by ready thieves. He watched the thieves run clean by him and took no action, for it was neither his mission nor his fight_. So this is what happens in a land where the ninja are not feared_, Ise determined. _How worthless_. A current of cold fear, running up from the depths of his thoughts struck him. _Should I fail, would Mist become a land like this?_

In the morning Ise would depart, trekking across the poisoned land of sound with renewed resolve, but reduced hope.


	4. Chapter 3 Gifts of the Blood

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.   
Author's Notes: So, Christmas bonus chapter, well, not exactly a bonus, but I am putting it up on Christmas. This chapter is rather a frameshift, and we get to say goodbye to Ise for a little while and introduce the other very important character. There's a lot more on the Mizuho in here, and I think this is a good chapter overall. 

To reviewers: Ise is indeed using a spear, whether it does anything special or not, well, you'll have to wait to see him fight. As for Saki, her role here will be minor at best, since this story isn't about her, but I felt like offering that little portion, since its three weapons, not two in the whole plan.

Additional reviews, good or bad, short or long, are strongly encouraged!

Chapter 3- Gifts of the Blood 

(the next day)

Mizain Yuki stared into the flames, watching the slow dance of red and yellow as it wove its way slowly across his vision. Edges formed and faded in the blink of an eye, but he caught every motion and seared it into memory, following the pattern as the flame wove its way across the pool in slow consumption of the surface. The patterns moved in a strange line, their pace uneven, as a tapestry of smokeless color revealed itself before the photographic image in Yuki's calculating mind. The surface burned, but never was a single droplet below that gleaming tension touched.

With slow serenity the flames reached the stone barrier at the other end of the square pool, flickered a last time, and died. Yuki gave one moment over to a smile at the pure art of the flaming dance before his thoughts turned to what had been revealed. The picture within his mind was not pleasing; indeed he saw the future and looked upon it with terrible anger, though his body displayed naught but serenity. Inside his thoughts flames burned.

"How I wish there was strength to burn it all away," He muttered softly before the water, a favorite wish of his, one he fully believed he would realize, and within his own lifetime. Thirty years old, Yuki fully expected to be a grandfather within the year, his oldest son was seventeen now, and had married, as he had himself, within the bloodline. The great plan Yuki had seen when he was but a boy of ten was coming to fruition. Soon the fifth generation of the Mizain would come into being, the second to be sired by a union of two who carried the power of Mizuho. It would be the critical generation, numerous and strong, but it would be years yet before the time came. Twenty years had been Yuki's grand plan, to emerge in power then, with three generations of Mizain still of age to fight, all of the generations that had broken with the old ways of the Hidden villages or been sired since. His plan for the future was far-reaching and ambitious, but Yuki had watched it grow perfectly according to his wishes for some twenty years.

Now the flames, his eternal guide, had revealed to him how all his design might well be taken from him before the time was right. "The one who was at first my savior, gateway into the vision I saw, has now come to threaten it all," Yuki hissed with controlled irritation. "I hid us so well, why could you not have forgotten, rebel, why must you have remembered us?" He shook his head. "Still, it is to be expected, you were a great man then, and it seems that in twenty years you have lost nothing. I should have anticipated this might happen." For long moments Yuki stared into the empty pool of crystal clear water, pondering what had been revealed in the flames. He knew what he had seen, the hand of Mist reaching out to claim the Mizuho once again. The Mizukage had not forgotten the Mizain as Yuki had hoped he would. For twenty years they had hidden from all seekers, but the memory of the Mizukage and his Warlord, who recalled the dangers of all bloodlines, was not so easily thwarted. "They will have sent seekers to find us," Yuki knew, he understood the mind of Mizukage; he had seen the man when he led the rebellion, a man similar to himself, ruthless and long considering. "Why I do not know, and it does not matter." The concerns of the outside world no longer mattered to Yuki. Whatever crisis called for Mizukage to seize a weapon long hidden was not the concern of Mizuho. So long as they could remain concealed until they were ready it would not matter. Concealment was all-important, twenty years had seen the Mizuho forgotten by all but a bare few among the wise and cunning leaders of the ninja, but Yuki knew that should the powers of his clan be revealed the wrath of other ninja would be terrible and immediate. "We must not be revealed. I cannot allow the seekers of Mist to find us."

Yet the flames had revealed more than simply seekers to the vision of Mizain Yuki, a dark truth had dawned in the light of the flaming dance. "We cannot hide and succeed, the ones who come will be armed with knowledge others have lacked, and they will find us if nothing is done," Yuki's eyes closed slowly as he went deep in thought. He was faced with the prophecy of the flames, and he knew it to be true, his memory, a supreme recollection that had not failed him in twenty years, sought the echoes of Mizukage, and the dark image of the man Akai, who became Warlord of mist. "They have the power, should they require it, we cannot block the power of their search and remain hidden."

Yuki sighed, the problem could not be solved by redoubling efforts to hide his people, a task that had only increased in difficulty as their numbers increased. A novel solution was required. He considered for a moment, wondering what he could do to avoid this threat to his grand plan, a plan that must not be compromised, no matter the cost. It was to be the culmination of the Mizuho, the greatest power the ninja had ever known, and Yuki would not consider failure. "I cannot avoid the seekers of Mist, not for long enough. When one cannot win in battle, submit before the enemy to lull him away while you rebuild your armies stronger than before, till you have the power to overcome him," Yuki quoted ancient wisdom, and slowly a cold smiled crept across his thin mouth. "Perhaps that is the answer. I shall give the Mizukage what he wants without revealing us. Yes, sacrifice a piece of little importance while the rest of the army flees in the night, a classic feint." The idea appealed to Yuki greatly. As he considered it further an additional aspect heartened him, perhaps by giving the Mizukage what he needed he could avert whatever crisis faced the Mist as well. He knew whatever threatened those ninja must indeed be grave. "Mizukage and his Warlord despised all bloodlines, for them to reach out to take aid from one signifies great need," Yuki smiled with a predatory hunger in his eyes. "It would be best if they did not fall, it shall serve my plans better if this world does not much change until we are ready."

At this point the leader of the Mizain stood, and walked forth from the pool. Give the Mizukage what he wants. It was a simple plan, and Yuki had already determined what was required. _It will be a sacrifice, but not one I cannot easily bear to pay._ With that, his resolution was complete.

Mizain Yuki stepped forth from his meditation room with a swift, but silent stride. He did not walk further down the hall, but turned to a small and shadowy figure that stood by his door. This motion made enough noise to indicate to the watcher that his master had left the room.

"My lord?" the young ninja requested. He was a boy of only fifteen years, garbed all in black and carrying a sword as if on a mission. One of the several ninja who had been born since fleeing Mist to parents not within the Mizain family by blood, but related through marriage, he did not bear the power of Mizuho. As such, he was relegated to service as Mizain Yuki's errand boy and guard dog.

"I have learned something important," Yuki told the boy in tones of absolute command. The total master here, he was to obeyed instantly and without question. "Summon the council together, and find my daughter Yi and bring her before us."

"Yes, my lord," the young ninja replied. He did not understand the reason, but rushed to obey.

Yuki, as he watched the boy hurry with absolute obedience, smiled again. Today would be a small setback, but all would come together in time. He walked slowly to the council chamber.

The sun was bright this morning as it shone down in the lush forest surrounding the hidden compound of the Mizain ninja clan. The potent yellow rays brought clarity to the dim world rarely equaled, save through the light of fire. Walking through the forest, Mizain Yi found it to be delightful, everything clearly illuminated and easy to see_. How nice it is to be able to see the world in brightness, and not from behind the shroud we usually hide behind_. Idly Yi saw a flower in the distance, bright blue in color. It was a large blossom, one that must have opened in the past two days, since she had last walked here. _I wonder…_With a sudden motion Yi ripped a shuriken free of the pouch at her right hip and whipped it around.

The blossom was ripped apart as the cruel metal throwing star slashed through its bloom with pinpoint accuracy. Yi laughed in delight. "My best throw in days!" She spun around, arms wide, looking up through the canopy to catch a glimpse of the sun. "What a nice day, maybe I can finally have some fun!" She spun around and jumped through the forest, leaping up into the canopy suddenly and then diving down along a vine so she hung only a few inches from the ground. She laughed again.

Suddenly Yi heard a rustling noise to her left. She tensed instantly, and flipped down to the ground. _Who?_ She wondered. Yi did not expect anyone here, she was far from the compound, farther than she was supposed to travel, but she liked it that way. Her days off were often spent getting as far away from that oppressive place as she could without leaving the forest. This area was one she frequented, and few others of the Mizain knew of it. They had no reason to be here. _Is it an enemy?_ Yi wondered, concerned. Then she looked around and remembered where she was. Though the sun was potent today, she was still in a lush rainforest, and it had rained heavily during the night. A slick coating of water remained on every surface. _If it is an enemy, they are about to make a grave mistake._ Yi's hands curled slowly, her index and middle finger extended, her ring and pinky curled in to the palm, and her thumb half bent. She stepped out from behind a tree. "Who comes?" she demanded, her voice as harsh as she could manage in its high soprano tones.

"Lady Yi!" Yi heard the cry and immediately relaxed, recognizing that youthful voice instantly.

Another ninja came running through the forest. He was garbed all in black, included a mask over his face, in sharp contrast to Yi's much more open uniform of green and brown pattern clothes. He spun to a stop in front of Yi, panting heavily from great exertions; the sword strapped to his back rose and fell visibly with the heavy breathing.

Yi looked at him quizzically. "What's the crisis, Shiro?" She asked, recognizing the other ninja. The youth was a year older than Yi's own fourteen years, but he appeared far younger, with a youthful face and voice that could have fit well on a boy of ten, and height to match. They had grown up together, and he was one of the few ninja among the Mizain that Yi had considered a friend. That is, until he had become her father's errand runner four months ago. Now seeing Shiro was dangerous, for he might carry a message from her father. Given his hurry, Yi feared the worst.

"You're the crisis, Lady Yi," Shiro almost screeched, his voice having remained childishly high even as he matured. "You father demands you meet with him and the council, but you could not be found. It took me two hours, even knowing all your haunts."

_Damn! Damn! Damn!_ Yi thought, _there goes my day. What does my father want?_ In Yi's experience her father's interest in her was never good. None of his children liked seeing him, well except the oldest, which was now old enough to serve their father's purpose. Mizain Yuki had nine children, of whom Yi was the fourth, the second daughter. Their family was not as other families, for their father was lord of the Mizain, a masterful ruler with a first of Mizuho. His children were not regarded as anything more than preferential servants. To Yi he was a fearsome god, potent and terrible, and not to be trifled with, not a loving father. She was loyal to the clan, but she did not love her parents and relatives, they treated her as a means to an end, just as all the others. _Shiro is the lucky one, born without our power; he has lived a better life. _Yi's face spasmed in a moment of anger, directed nowhere useful, before she quashed it. "My father wants me before the council? Did he summon all of us?" it was the only reason she could think of for appearing before the leaders of the Mizain.

"No Lady Yi," Shiro replied cautiously, knowing his former friend's temper, a trait common among Mizain. "Just you, I believe he has some task for you. We must hurry, your father does not like to be kept waiting."

"I know Shiro, I know," Yi replied. "I'm coming. Let's go." As the two ninja took to the trees and headed swiftly back through the rainforest to the Mizain compound, Yi felt worry assail her. Her father had a task for her? She did not understand what such a thing could be. All her life only three things had been expected of her, training as a ninja, concealing her presence from the rest of the world, and preparing for aiding in the production of a new generation of Mizain ninja. _He doesn't expect me to marry someone now, does he?_ The thought filled her with horror. Yi knew the day would come, and soon, when she would be expected to marry one of her more distant cousins, but she had hoped to wait at least two years more. _I'm too young yet. I want more time! _Yi believed her father would wait at least a year or two more, until he knew the strengths of all the Mizain her age completely, to make the pairing, but she had trouble thinking of any other task he would want from her. _It cannot be a mission; only the older ninja go into the outer world for those. What is it?_ Yi felt she might well collapse from fear before meeting her father. It was a struggle to hold together the control of her muscles needed for ninja treewalking.

"We are here Lady Yi," Shiro said, dispelling Yi from the fog fear had placed over her thoughts.

Yi blinked, and discovered that indeed they had returned to the cluster of stone buildings that served the Mizain clan as home in this hidden rain forest lair. They were rough buildings, lacking in much comfort or amenity, for the ninja had built themselves, or forced captured peasants to labor in their service, all to maintain secrecy. The whole cluster of torrid buildings echoed hurt and pain, and a deep loneliness that afflicted all who lived there. Such were the measures warding the Mizain from discovery by the rest of the world, a wall of misery.

The building that held the council meetings was the largest, the one housing her family, the descendents of the leadership of the Mizain, Yuki and his wife and children. There was one large open hall in the structure, the only room of its kind in the whole compound, a room that could hold hundreds, far more than those who lived here now, but in a testament to the vision of Mizain Yuki, by the time his scheme was completed the Mizain would fill it to the walls with their strength.

For now the great empty room served many purposes, for all major events and ceremonies were held here, inside a dank and cold stone environment. The small council that ruled the Mizain also met here. The council was a group of five, all older ninja. This was expected, but the great oddity was that their leader was the youngest member of the council, thirty-year-old Mizain Yuki. Two others were older siblings of their brother, while the final two were old ninja, from the generation that had come before, the siblings of Mizain Mihiro. They had never fully forgiven Yuki for what he had done twenty years ago, still believing that had the Mizian stood with the other bloodlines of Mist they migt have triumphed. It was denial of course, but these older ninja and the others of their generation represented what little opposition there was to Yuki's absolute domination of all the ninja who shared his bloodline.

When Yi and Shiro entered the five members of the council awaited them, seated on cushions. Yi looked at her father and saw terrible flames burning in his red eyes. She quivered in fear, and knew his displeasure. Trembling she sat before the council members. Shiro took a position against the wall, silent and, as far as everyone else was concerned, not present at all.

"Mizain Yi," Yuki began. "You are late to respond to our summons. I am displeased, it seems you have been journeying too far again. I would have you punished for it, since we have had to caution you before." At this all four other members of the council nodded, they might disagree with Yuki's plans in some things, but they all agreed on the need for secrecy to survive. "However, it does not matter anymore."

_What?_ Yi was shocked. Always before her father had disciplined her harshly for traveling beyond lands deemed safe. She had expected a severe punishment in addition to whatever else happen this afternoon. _Why has he let it go?_

"However, in your absence the council has come to a clear decision," Yuki continued. "A decision made unanimously," There was some shifting of eyes on the part of the other council members at that pronouncement, but nothing more, and Yi knew that whatever her father had done to coerce them it had been minimal. "Mizain Yi, listen well to my words. At dawn tomorrow you will be banished from this compound, never to return so long as you live!" Yuki's voice rose with the pronouncement, so his final words echoed clearly off the stone and lingered with pain.

"What?" Yi could not contain her shock.

Standing against the wall, Shiro silently collapsed to his knees.

"I meant precisely what I said, daughter," Yuki answered the accusation stolidly, his expression totally even. "You will leave this compound and not come back, I am sending you forth."

"But…but _why_?" Yi managed as her mind sought some desperate focus.

Yuki glanced at the rest of the council. "I suppose it will do no harm to tell you," the others nodded their assent. "Our situation has changed, daughter, the flames have revealed to me that our secrecy is in jeopardy. The ninja of Mist are coming to find us, and that must not be. To keep them back we require a sacrifice. They seek the Mizuho, and so you will be set forth, for them to find. With your sacrifice the rest of us will be preserved. That is why." The words were cold as ice, and merciless as a sword cut.

The words crashed over Yi, and she found tears streaming down her face. Her mind swam through forsaken seas, and she could not comprehend what was happening. "Why me?" She demanded, not knowing what else to say. "Why me of all of us?"

"The answer is simple enough daughter, you fill the needs of Mist. Your ability with the Mizuho is strong, perhaps as much as any of my children. With you they will not come searching for anyone else. Likewise, we lose little when we lose you, for you are not married and have no children, and your rebelliousness has made you likely to reveal us by accident." Yuki spared not a word of apology, for he truly was not sorry. The moment he had set his mind to this course of action, Yi had been revealed as the perfect candidate, and consoling her would be pointless. "Now, control yourself, there is nothing you can do about this, so you must get used to it quickly."

"How will you keep me from coming back?" Yi demanded, her anger finally rising against the awesome tide of betrayal.

"I'm afraid I will insure that," one of the two older council members stood and approached Yi. "We will place within you mind a block of genjutsu, preventing you from ever revealing any knowledge of this location or our clan to others. I learned the jutsu long ago; it is a common practice to conceal secrets, used on many ninja. Do not worry, you will not be harmed, only go to sleep."

He stepped forward, and Yi, confused, troubled, and unable to respond, did nothing to stop him. Her family, everyone she knew, had betrayed her, cast her out, she was not ready to resist anything.

The older Mizain placed his hands one each side of her head, and began to form seals in the air. Then he reached out and pricked each air with a small needle. With a sharp squeeze he induced blood to flow and drew a seal in blood over each ear. "Memory sealing technique." He whispered slowly.

The seals of blood flowed in through Yi's ears and she felt them settle deep into her mind, forming a block that stole expression from her. Thus, the secrets of the Mizain were protected, and she would never be able to find her way back home. Yi's mind recoiled in abject horror, and she pulled forth a sudden surge of strength to fight this viscous attack, not to no avail. Here she found her body failed her, for it was already dragging her deep into sleep. _No!_ She screamed inside. _No! Don't send me away, please, I don't deserve this! Father! Father!_

Then all was darkness.


	5. Chapter 4 Burning Freedom

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.

**Author's Notes:** Well, new chapter posted at last. I'd like to apologize for taking so long, but the holidays have kept me away from the computer, so I haven't been able to work on this for a while. Hopefully that will change now. Anyway, here's the next chapter, continuing from the last. It's a good chapter I think, perhaps the best so far.

Thanks to all reviewers, and some answers:

Rock lee shroom: well, Ise's spear doesn't appear like anything special, but I would point out that though no character in Naruto has been seen to use one, spears were a traditional ninja weapon, and they were known for building some tricks into them.

Seravy: well, I suppose its not revealing anything to say that Kisame does indeed have a further role to play in this fic (as does his nemesis Akai) and I plan on revealing more about past events in Mist that may have shaped the whole Naruto world. I appreciate that you like the OCs, since this fic is only going to have brief encounters with the actual characters from the series.

Chapter 4- Burning Freedom 

Yi awoke to darkness, and a cold, clammy, damp feeling. Her body ached with mild urgency, a sign she had slept in a bad position, but nothing serious. Yet the pain afflicting her body was nothing compared to the confusion afflicting her mind. In the darkness, with no signals to tell her where she was or how much time had passed Yi's mind blurred backwards into memory, calling up horrid visions of her father's words. For long moments in this dark world without time, the young ninja swam in memory and horror swept over her. The brutal words of her father, cold and merciless, crashed through her mind again and again. "You will be banished…banished…banished," a cruel echo within Yi's mind.

Tears streamed down her face until in desperation Yi slammed her hands down. They contacted hard stone with a painful jolt, and brought her back to sensation. "Calm down, calm down," she repeated to herself, a desperate mantra to build some focus in this empty region. She needed that focus, needed it to draw her thoughts away from the holes she could feel in her mind, the pieces of her memory that had been swept away, and the others that had been blocked from her, no longer her own, but someone else's property. "Come on Yi, you're a ninja, you can handle this. Focus, focus."

Slowly her breathing receded from the raggedness of panic to a more measured nervousness. She forced her mind to focus only on the present, a skill she had been taught in training, to maintain absolute awareness of the things around her. "Alright," Yi determined. "Step one: where am I?"

There was no light; the darkness surrounding her was absolute. She could feel stone all around her, walls behind her and beneath her knees. With this determined Yi was able to figure out her location. _I am in a deprivation cell._ The thought horrified her, but was also comforting. Her environment could not have been worse, no rooms within the compound were less accommodating than these, but at least she knew where she was. They were used for specialized types of training, a room surrounded on all sides by solid stone, the only entry a stone panel that slid into place from a hidden mechanism. There was only one way out of such cells, to find the false stone panel that hid the mechanism's lever. "I'll never find it in the dark," Yi sighed despondently. "I'm stuck here until my father hauls me out and sends me away."

With that thought Yi sank down to the stone floor, curling herself up against the wall, bringing her knees into her chest. For a long moment she sat there and cried, letting all vestiges of ninja control go. "It's not fair, not fair at all," She muttered incoherently into her knees. "I've done nothing wrong, and he sends me away, takes away my memory. Why father? Wasn't I good enough, didn't I work hard for you? Why are you doing this to me?"

Though she asked herself these questions as if they were a mystery, Yi already knew the answers, and as they welled up out of the darkness into the back of her mind her mood changed. _I wasn't a good little tool, not a drone like you wanted father_. Yi sneered, not voicing these thoughts, but reveling in her anger. _You don't see me as your daughter; I'm just another tool to you, just a little carrier of the Mizuho who turned out to not be what you wanted. You don't love me, you never did._ Yi's fists clenched, and she slammed them into the floor again in anger, holding them against the stone despite the pain. "Damn you!" she cried. "Damn you father! I won't take this! I don't accept this betrayal!" Yi's anger snapped like whipcord, and crystallized into something far more than emotion, something far more lasting and dangerous. "I hate you!" she screamed the words at the top of her lungs, rage boiling out of her.

Then there was light.

"W-w-what?" Yi gasped as the room was suddenly illuminated by a dim orange glow. Suddenly alert she tracked its source, only to realize it was coming from beneath her.

Looking down Yi discovered that her hands were burning.

Soft flames danced across her palms and fingers, glowing red and orange and yellow as they slowly released warmth and light.

Startled it took Yi a moment to realize what was happening. _Mizuho. The stone is always covered in moisture here, and it reached my hands as I touched it, then I made it burn._ She held up her hands in astonishment. _But how? I made no seals, I didn't even think about molding chakra, it just happened. That's impossible._

Always before, when wielding the power of her bloodline Yi had used the curled hand seals to unlock the power, to mold her energy and ignite flame within the bounds of water itself. This time something different had happened, something she could not at first understand. Then awareness dawned on her, glowing like flame, and the young wielded of Mizuho smiled in glee. _Anger._

With viscous happiness Yi called the image of her father into her mind, even as she looked into the flame on burning in her palms. _Flare high and hot now_, she commanded them.

The burning water roared, and flame soared high above Yi's face, scraping against the stone ceiling at its crest. As they flared she felt an onslaught of tremendous heat, and though it could not harm her, she knew the fire was terribly intense.

Swirling Yi brought the image of anger into her mind, focusing her power even as she made no seals.

As she willed it the water clinging to the stone walls burst into flame for an instant, and Yi laughed.

The flames flickered and died.

"What?" She was surprised again, for she had not wanted them to die. She ran her hands along the floor again, and then commanded them to re-ignite, channeling her still burning anger at her father.

Flames flared high for an instant, and then were gone.

"Curse it!" Yi spat. Still, she knew she needed light, so she curled her hands into the seal. "Mizuho," she whispered.

The water on her hands once again began to burn.

"It seems this new thing is not as easy as I thought," Yi sighed. Though she was hesitant, there was a realization dawning deep within her. _I can command the Mizuho by force of will, somehow. Does my father know of this? _Yi searched her memory desperately, seeking back to all the uses of Mizuho she had ever seen in the compound. Slowly she realized that though her father and the other Mizain could command burning water without using seals, none could ignite it that way. _This secret is mine alone. _A dark gleam of pride swelled within her for a long moment, and then was suddenly quenched.

"Father will take it from me," Yi spoke with grave sadness. "He will see this change, and he will find the knowledge. This will be my power only until he sees me when they open this cell." That her father would discover this new ability Yi was absolutely certain, Mizain Yuki had an uncanny knowledge of the powers and limits of all those who shared his blood. He was sure to detect a change in his daughter, especially one so drastic as this. "No!" she hissed with rage. "You will not have this, it is my power, I won't give it to you, not after this betrayal!"

_He will take it anyway_, the voice of reason told Yi softly. She knew that to be true, yet every part of her demanded that her father not learn of this, that she keep it from him as repayment for his betrayal by banishing her. Desperately she searched for a way.

Sitting there in a darkness lit only by the lurid flames of burning liquid, Yi looked about her prison and then conceived of a way. It was a desperate thing to do, likely foolish, but she no longer had anything to lose. "You have banished me father," She repeated. "But I will not be sent into exile by you and my relatives. I will escape!" She resolved with a burning swell of emotions.

Considering the option seriously, even as her emotions ebbed away, Yi discovered there was nothing wrong with the idea. She need not leave anything behind, she had not been changed from the ninja field gear she wore earlier that day, and surely her father would have sent her away with nothing else. She had no food or money, but that was not a problem for a ninja. Yi knew ways to the world beyond the hidden compound, even if she had rarely visited that world. _They will not search hard for me, but will let me go, I know the woods as well as any of us; they could not search out all my hiding places. Yes, I will do this._

Resolved now, Yi found one major obstacle to overcome. _I have to get out of this room. Where's the lever?_

Guided by the light from her hands it took only moments to find the hidden panel. Yi put one hand on it, and then paused. _My father would not have relied only on this to hold me. He would anticipate me finding light._ She knew there must be a guard.

Thinking quickly Yi formulated a simple plan, one that relied on surprise, but she suspected she would have the surprise she needed.

With her left hand on the lever Yi reached down to the floor with her right, soaking it as deeply as she could in the dampness of the floor, getting water droplets all over her skin and making them burn.

She pulled the lever, and as the stone panel slid out of the way Yi flicked her right hand forward.

The fire of Mizuho is not a normal flame. Many ninja, seeing it for the first time believe it is simply flames made to burn atop water, as ignited oil may, but this is not Mizuho. The power is terrible for the reason that it makes water itself burn, water that retains all of its fluid nature even as it becomes terrifying flame. So when Yi flicked her hand toward the opposite wall beyond the panel she did not throw a ball of fire, but flicked drops of water that scattered outward and continued to burn.

"What?" A confused voice gasped, and as she lunged out from the deprivation cell Yi saw a head turn in the dim hallway to the opposite side of the hall. The ninja guarding her was distracted for a single moment. By the time he turned back to see Yi it was to late.

Linking her hands together Yi turned her body sideways, bringing her arms up as she did so. Her right elbow slammed upward, taking the other ninja, a boy she recognized as one of her many cousins, in the jaw. His head snapped back with a terrible crack, and then the back of his skull slammed hard into the wall. The noise it made was frightfully nauseating, and Yi felt her stomach clench instinctively. She watched carefully as her cousin slid down the wall, moaning softly. Quickly she reached in with two fingers to make sure he was still living. _I don't want to hurt anyone, even if my father betrayed me, these ones did not, and they are my family._

Luckily her cousin did not appear seriously harmed beyond being unconscious.

Yi wasted no more time, but hurried silently down the hallway. She knew where she was now, and how to leave the compound.

Only one question remained. _Where to flee to?_ Yi knew many hiding places throughout the forest, places the other Mizain rarely went, were she could easily avoid their notice. _Which one to choose?_ A moment of indecision passed over her, and then Yi realized the perfect place. _I need to practice with new ability. The lake._

"Lady Yi!" the sharp cry traveled a short distance through the lushness of rainforest vegetation, and then fell dead. There were no echoes in this land.

"Lady Yi!" Shiro tried again, screaming at the top of his lungs, but there came no answer. "It is hopeless," he muttered into his hands as he sat down on a gnarled stump. "She has gone."

In the rainforest the darkness of night is nearly absolute beneath the verdant canopy, so tracking is all but impossible. Sound is useless, for the forest is never silent, likewise scent was nearly impossible to use amid the endless mixture of tropical odors. To track someone here one needed a trail and an idea of the quarry's destination. Shiro had neither. "And still, I am far closer than any of the Mizain will be," he sighed emptily.

Shiro was technically part of the Mizain clan, but assuredly he was of the lesser part, the part that lacked Mizuho. His father's sister had married one of the true Mizain, and his family had lived with them in Mist. When the Mizain had fled during the purges, his father, severely injured the day before, had fled with them, taking his wife and children. Shiro had been born four years later, a child in a strange world where he had no true place. He was not a part of Mizain Yuki's grand vision, and as such was suitable only for menial tasks in the eyes of those who wielded Mizuho. For this he owed the family nothing, not even obedience, he did not need their protection, the outside world would welcome him well enough, indeed they might even have honored him for revealing the Mizuho's hiding place.

Yet Shiro would not betray them, Mizain Yuki had been very careful when allowing any of the un-blooded clan members to become ninja. He had measured them closely, and had chosen only those who would be loyal. Shiro had sworn oaths to the Mizain clan, and he would keep them. He valued his own honor, even if the rest of them did not value him.

But he would have given up anything to help Yi.

She had been his friend since they were both very young, one of several children in the compound close in age. Though she was a year his junior, Shiro had always been close to the youthful Mizain. She took a delight in life he found fascinating, for he found everything around him dull and empty. When she was around he felt more alive, and Yi spurred him to greater risks and endeavors. Her progress had pulled him along enough to become a ninja.

Now she had been banished. Shiro had wept in the darkness after hearing the pronouncement, not allowing anyone to see. A ninja could not cry, could not be clouded by emotion, and so he hid his tears, but he felt wrenched even so. Having looked into the future with Yi banished Shiro had seen nothing, and he knew now that there was no purpose to his life, perhaps had never been. _I was only living through her; there is no reason for me to exist with her gone._

So he had sat in the darkness and done nothing, willing away his volition so that he could continue life as Mizain Yuki's servant, he didn't need most of himself to perform that task, and had resolved to let go of it instead of dwell on regrets. An unpleasant decision, perhaps, but with nothing to look forward to Shiro could not afford to look back. He would simply fade himself away, a shadow within the mist evaporating as the sun rose past him.

Then Yi had escaped. It had been unexpected, after her breakdown before her father, and with the mental jutsu added. No one could believe she had gathered the resolve to escape, to ambush the cousin guarding her and flee into the night with nothing but her ninja gear. That a Mizain should flee to the outside world had escaped everyone's mind, including that of Yuki, they had stayed hidden for so long.

Defiance such as this must be reckoned with. Yuki had special intentions for how to release Yi. He wished to direct her in a way so she found the Mist seekers as far from him as possible. Her blind running into the darkness would not be allowed, he would banish her on his terms only.

So the Mizain had mobilized to find their wayward daughter, but most had muttered that it was a waste. Yi had a lead of over an hour on any of them, and it was night in the rainforest. Tracking was all but impossible, and she could have fled in any direction. These were the excuses given, but there was also the silent one, which none would admit. _She knows the forest better than us_. The other ninja did not wish to say this of a fourteen-year-old girl, but it was in many cases true. Yi had wandered far in her brief hours of freedom, while others stayed close to the compound. She knew places in the woods where they would never find her.

Except Shiro knew them all as well. He had traveled with Yi often, on her excursions, the voice of reason and doubt. She always reprimanded him for saying they should go back, that they must travel no farther, but she had let him come, her silent minder. So he knew, he could not track her easily at night, but he had enough knowledge to guess places Yi might be. Yuki had sent out all the ninja, Shiro included, and so he searched. Half of him wished he could find Yi, wanted to bring her back to stay a part of his life, to give him a reason to exist, and the other half hoped he'd find nothing, that she would escape freely.

For now he was wandering east, looking for any place Yi might be hidden. He had passed a few of her haunts already, and found nothing. He was moving toward the edge of the forest now, to the savannah that followed. Most of the searchers had headed the other way, deeper into the woodland, toward the Rain Country some ways distant, assuming Yi would run in that direction. Shiro was certain she had traveled this way, though he was not certain why. Suddenly he stopped. He had reached a small opening, a place where a great tree had fallen not long ago, and could see the stars. Gazing at them Shiro realized it was long into the night. "I have been searching for three hours, and Yi has been gone for four." Dawn was coming, only a few hours distant, and Shiro decided his search was done. He was tired, and he would turn back here. There had been no success so far; it was unlikely he would succeed should he go long.

So he turned, his head swiveling from east to west, as he prepared to head back.

A flicker caught his eye.

_A firefly?_ Shiro wondered, looking, but he did not see any of the insects.

The flicker came again, a dot of bright red at his vision. _What?_ Shiro focused his gaze through the trees, trying to see as far as possible.

There, at the edge of his vision, where everything blurred together, the ninja saw a steady stream of color, appearing and then fading again, red and orange flashes.

Fire.

_Lady Yi!_ He realized with such suddenness it drove the image from his body. _What was in that direction?_ He searched his memory. _The pond!_ They had not been there for a long time, but Shiro remembered it, a small pond surrounded by four great trees, their roots all covered with moss so that it filtered the water to be crystal clear and cold. They had tried swimming there once, and the cold water left them bedridden for days. Yi had seldom journeyed there in the past few years, and so Shiro wondered what she was doing now. _Should she not have kept running?_ He wondered.

He knew that he must find out. His duty demanded it. He would approach Yi and demand that she return with him to the village. He felt a cold feeling in his gut as he made the decision, and a part of him hated himself for it, but there was no choice. _What kind of a ninja would I be if I added one betrayal to another? I can only do my duty now._

Shiro moved silently through the vegetation, which grew thick here, so he could not get a good glimpse of Yi until the vines and brush cleared in the shadow of the great trees.

What he saw made him fall to his knees in astonishment.

Mizain Yi stood atop the still waters of the crystalline pond, and fire raged all about her. Long red and blue hair swept back and upward, carried by currents of heat to envelop her like a great cloak, her eyes burned solid red, all white gone from them, as heat glossed over everything before her. Yi raised a hand and a tower of burning, molten; water surged out from beneath her to rise to the height of the aged treetops.

In the past year Shiro had realized Yi was becoming beautiful, with a lithe figure and sharply lined, high boned face that gave her a strange, enticing grace even with her youth, but as she stood before him on the lake like that she appeared to Shiro as a goddess must, one with the elements and in command with them. Yet deep within him a voice he refused to acknowledge whispered something else; _like a goddess, or a demon_.

"Lady Yi!" He cried out from the shore of the pond, rising to his feet again and pulling down the black mask that covered his mouth.

Yi's composure was racked in shock, and her tower of burning water collapsed down to the surface of the pond with a splash, thankfully ceasing to burn before it blanketed everything nearby in wetness. "Shiro?" She asked in astonishment. "What are you doing here?"

Shiro grimaced, but spoke the truth, pain lacing his voice. "Your father has ordered you brought back to the compound. You cannot run off until his plans are completed."

"Demons take my father!" Yi shouted in his face, and fire rippled over the entire surface of the pond as she spoke. "He's betrayed me, sent me away. Well, he can't banish me. I'll escape!" She screamed the last to words with a child's spitefulness, but there was a deeper anger behind it, and it frightened Shiro.

"I am sorry to hear that Lady Yi," Shiro replied, his voice soft and sad, for he was truly sorry. Reaching behind his right shoulder he pulled out the short sword he habitually wore. It was indeed a ninja weapon, but one few Mizain wore, given their other powers, but Shiro bore the sword to signify he was truly a ninja, if one of a different kind than the other Mizain. "If you will not come back, then I must force you. Those are your father's orders."

Yi's face broke out in shock, and she shook her head rapidly. "No Shiro, don't, I'm not going back." Her face contorted. "Do you hear me, I'm not going back!" She spun around, and the flames rose high all about her, crawling up the dew on the tree trunks, only to wink away at the flick of her will. "You see Shiro, I'm not the same as before, my powers have awakened somehow, it's different, and this is mine. I won't let you take it from me. I'm not going back Shiro, you can't make me."

Shiro took the sword in both hands, his fingers solidly gripping the hilt, but his wrists loose, yet ready to clench hard when the moment came. His face turned to stone, even as tears poured out of his eyes, a stream of sorrow. "I have no choice, I must obey my lord, even against you, Lady Yi. Now, come back with me." He stepped forward, to the edge of the pond.

Yi raised a hand in from of him, her palm upward, a universal sign he should stop. "Don't come any closer Shiro, you know you can't beat me, not over water."

"I must still try," He took another step forward, and then another, stepping out onto the surface of the pond just as Yi was.

"Stop Shiro!" Yi pleaded.

He took another step forward.

Yi's hand clenched into a fist, and her red eyes burned within.

Shiro leapt upwards just in time, as a torrent of flame exploded from the water beneath him. His sword came up over his head, as he prepared to strike on his descent. "Your flames will not reach above the water." He told her.

"I'm not going back!" Yi screamed. Her hands came together suddenly, flashing through seals, even as all the surface of the pond burst into livid flames tall as a man.

Then Yi's right hand shot forward again, palm extended. "Crashing Spray no Jutsu!"

Water surged upward, a blinding torrent of power with the force of a waterfall. Yet the power was not what was shocking in the jutsu. The water was _burning_. Mizuho embraced the blast.

Shiro, not believing Yi would strike him in such a way, could not dodge, and could only hold back the scream of pain as it slammed into him.

The black garb of his night suit burst into flame instantly, and then was gone, nothing but ashes over his chest. Flames washed over Shiro, ravaging the surfaced of his skin even as explosive trauma threw him far backward through the air.

But the Mizuho is not so merciful as that. It was not a blast of fire, to slam into its target and wash over with burning fury, a single instant of destruction. Mizuho endowed, the crashing spray was still water, and it clung to Shiro's body, continuing to scourge his flesh all through his flight, until he slammed into the ground many meters distant and the his body rubbed away all the water as it skidded to a painful stop.

Yi stood stock still while it all happened.

Shiro's sword, spinning free through the air, struck a tree with an audible thunk.

Yi blinked. Then she screamed.

She screamed in anguish and pain and despair. She launched violent outbursts upwards until her throat went raw with pain. She saw what she had done in the maddening fires of her anger and was appalled. For the first time Yi glimpsed the true nature of her power, the thing that had been given life within her, and she felt its full weight descend upon her. Her discovery of the evening reversed itself from wondrous to horrifying within her mind, as she realized what she had awakened to become, an agent of death.

"What have I done?" She begged the sky. "What have I done?"

The only one she would have trusted to answer her had been destroyed by her powers. Yi turned and ran blindly to the east, knowing only that she had to get away; she had to get away now. There was absolutely no turning back from this act.

"She was here father," Mizain Yuki's oldest son spoke. "The marks of Mizuho use are clear on the ground, plants burned in patches."

"I see," Yuki replied. "Any sign of where she went?"

"No, bu-"

"Brother!" A voice, Yuki's sister, called. "I found the boy Shiro! He is terribly burned!"

"So it seemed he found her here then, and attempted to bring her back," Yuki reasoned. "I seems her strength enabled her to defeat him easily."

"Father, they were friends!" Yuki's son interjected.

"Friendship means little when desires conflict among ninja, son, remember this," Yuki replied solemnly. "Yi's desire to escape was apparently great, and this boy paid for trying to stop her. A pity he fell here, he proved more loyal than I would have expected."

"Brother, the boy is not dead!" Yuki's sister shouted.

"What?" Yuki turned in surprise. "He lives? After such a strike?"

"His body clings to life by the barest thread, my Lord," His sister answered. "The Mizuho is not always quick to kill, but he will die within hours, not even the strongest ninja medicine could save him. Should I end his torment?" It was a call for mercy, and there was no pleasantness in the voice.

Yuki considered for but a moment. _This boy lacks Mizuho, but he has proven loyal to me, and he knows Yi well. _Yuki looked at the scene of devastation around him, tracing the lines of where water had burned. _My daughter has shown more power here than I believed she possessed. This boy's life has ended, but he might still be useful to me_. "No," he told his sister. "Bring him."

"What? But he will die in hours at most, why prolong his torment?"

"He may still be useful to us," Yuki replied. "Now, do not question my orders, bring him."

"Yes my lord."


	6. Chapter 5 Language of Sound

Author's Notes: It's been some time since I updated this, for which I apologize. Partly the transition from break to school was responsible, as was some other factors. Rest assured I haven't abandoned it. This chapter switches back to Ise for a moment, Shiro's fate will be handled in the next chapter. 

I'm anxious for any possible reviews, whether positive or negative!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.

Chapter 5- Language of Sound 

It has been said that the sun rises early for a ninja on a mission far from home. As ninja customarily awaken with the dawn, this implies a lack of sleep, something that Ise felt keenly on his first morning in Sound country.

He had slept of course, quite long enough indeed, and really had not awakened more during the night than he might have on any mission, but he still found himself far more tired than he ought to be. The source was obvious; he was alone in a foreign land, and a deeply threatening one at that. The knowledge brought Ise little comfort, for he knew the problem would not go away quickly. _I will simply have to become accustomed to living like this_, he recognized, _before I can tolerate the stress fully_. _The trek across Sound country will certainly serve this purpose._

After awakening Ise made himself ready swiftly. His morning ritual was quick, check his items to make sure all his gear was available, shrug his flak jacket over his head, perform a few simple stretches with his spear, and reestablish the henge mask that hid his identity. Only that last part was any different from what he had done daily in Hidden Mist, and he found it quite depressing.

The inn's breakfast was simple and familiar enough, they were still serving the bounty of the ocean here in this coastal town, as was almost universal in the Mist country. Ise wondered what would happen when he ventured inland, where fish were uncommon. _It would be a strange thing to give up_, he decided. For most people giving up fish at meals was a minor concern, but Ise was shark-blooded after all, and he suspected it would be a rather more severe deprivation than he wished.

The mist ninja ate quickly, eager to get moving on the road. Ise had no desire to stay in sound country any longer than he absolutely must. However, fate was not so kind to him as to allow a peaceful beginning.

A man strode into the bar, tall and broadly built, and carrying a long sword. Several others, similarly attired, followed him. Seeing this Ise immediately sensed there would be trouble, these men with close cropped hair and sharp blades were surely samurai of the local daimyo. _How thuggish_, he thought, looking at them. Samurai were rare creatures in a world where ninja dominated, but there must always be some who served as official guards and policed the people. In Mist country the lord's daimyo were highly trained, properly uniformed, and never questioned ninja on orders, but these were different lands. _The ninja are not well liked here_, Ise recognized, _these men are likely new to service, having been bandits or a gang only weeks ago. They have been given this position to establish some semblance of order. They wish to show others they can punish a ninja_, Ise decided. _This is trouble I don't need_.

His belief proved true. The samurai took a single look about the room with focused eyes. He scanned each person swiftly before his gaze fell on Ise. The Mist ninja accepted the samurai's stare and returned it easily. Obviously a ninja with flak jacket, spear, and most notably the Mist forehead protector above his brow, it would have been pointless for Ise to try and hide what he was.

"So they did let a ninja in here," the samurai growled, his voice no stranger to intimidation. Ise was not impressed; a single word from the Warlord would have set this man to quivering in fear. "That was a mistake innkeep," He informed the owner without taking his gaze off Ise. "Ninja aren't welcome here anymore."

"But he's not a s-" the innkeeper began.

"Be quiet," the samurai barked. "We'll deal with your foolishness later. He addressed Ise now. "You, get out of our town now."

"Are ninja forbidden here?" Ise questioned levelly.

"What garbage are you talking about?" the samurai's gaze twitched. "I told you to get out, now get going. Or do you want to make trouble?" he fingered his sword hilt.

"You should answer my question," Ise said simply. "If your lord has indeed forbidden all ninja in this town then I will indeed leave, with my apologies for ignorance. If not, however, you have no right to dictate anything I do."

"You arrogant dog!" the samurai bellowed. "You'll do as well tell you to, we've had enough of ninja making a mess here."

"I'll take that as a no," Ise's eyes narrowed. "I suggest you leave this alone samurai. I am not a Sound ninja," he pointed to his forehead protector. "I have no interest in your town. I was planning to leave once my meal was finished."

The samurai was incensed, and it was patently obvious now that he had not recognized the difference in symbols on the forehead protector. This confirmed Ise's belief that these men were trumped up thugs. No true samurai would have made such a simple mistake. "I don't care what kind of ninja you are, boy!" the samurai sneered. "You won't leave the easy way, so we'll do it the hard way. His right hand formed swiftly into a fist, and he brought his arm back and then forward to land a brutal punch on Ise's face.

The punch stopped in mid-swing, Ise's hand caught the samurai's fist. The mist ninja was suddenly standing, and in the silence of the aborted blow the stool Ise had been seated at struck the flow with clattering import.

"You stinking little nin-ugh," the samurai's taunt was cut short as Ise's right hand smashed into the man's solar plexus. He brought his hand back and struck again, before the man had recovered at all. The samurai's knees crumpled, and when Ise released his hand the man crumpled to the floor.

The battle was unnecessary, utterly pointless, but Ise welcomed it. It soothed his emotions to scatter the samurai and strike them down. He was not going to idly accept disrespect from these fools. The shark-blooded ninja did not hold back at the thugs turned samurai, but used all the techniques he knew for unarmed combat. He cracked ribs, smashed hands, and tore the tendon of one man's knee, all without remorse or concern.

Moments later a single of the samurai remained standing. A small gap existed between him and Ise, and his hands flashed to the hilt of his sword, obviously considering drawing. He caught a movement of Ise's eyes, as the ninja glanced to the spear that still rested against the table where he had been eating, and decided on survival. Nevertheless, looking into Ise's cold eyes, even though they were disguised, he knew the mist ninja would accept no apology, so he raised his hands and charged.

Ise grabbed his arm, spun him down and cracked his head against the floor, knocking him unconscious. With that the common room fell silent. Ise spun around, making certain all the samurai were down. As he did he caught the innkeeper's horrified stare from behind the counter. _Fool_, Ise thought. _If you fear me and yet rely on these wretches to protect you_. Still, that glance couldn't help but stir recriminations in Ise's heart as he examined his feelings during the fight.

_I enjoyed this_, Ise realized, and it sickened him. _What am I, if I enjoy a fight like this, a waste of time that draws attention and jeopardizes my mission? This is something my uncle would have done_. Ise knew his uncle would not have tried to avoid the fight, but he could scarcely call his own effort anything more than half-hearted. _These fools needed a lesson, but I was not the one who should have thought it. Let the Sound country fight its own battles, my mission concerns Mist alone._

As Ise silently gathered his spear and walked out of the inn without another word, he could still feel the innkeeper's eyes upon him, and remembered that horrified look. _I cannot make this mistake again_, he resolved. Ise knew the temptation would come, he felt something deep within demanding it, a force beyond emotion calling upon him to lay waste to those beneath him, to strike down anything that opposed his ability. It was a force of great power, and never before had Ise felt it so keenly, though he recognized it instantly. _This is the shark in me_, he saw, and it terrified him. Indeed, it was a struggle to retain his stoic countenance as he slowly left the port town. The shark-blooded ninja was all but overcome with a desire to scream denial, to shout that he was not a monster, even as his deeper being informed him that yes, he was. It sawed at him, the shark's brutal force within, the killing perfection, and Ise recoiled from it, denying its nature even as he could see what it did in his memory.

This was the force that had empowered Kisame, the power to kill and destroy with a casual, predatory, cruelty. It was a cold thing, lacking in human nature, and its strength was mirrored in the changes to the body of those who bore it, so Ise knew already that it was just as strong within him as in his uncle, a man more terrible than any he had ever known. A man without morals, who would kill his own nephew simply because the other was an inconvenience, that was the shark-man. _I cannot let this consume me, I cannot!_ Ise shouted this within his mind, but it seemed hopeless. He could here the shark within him speak. _Yes, I am not human, but my power is beyond humans. You are alone now. No one can help you. Your own human strength is weak_. That much was true; Ise knew he was not a ninja of great talent; the talented ninja of his age were already being groomed for jounin status, while he seemed destined to be a chuunin forever. The mist ninja had never before thought of this as a failing, it was simply where his ability placed him within the hierarchy of Mist, but the situation had changed. _You are outside of Mist, and you cannot afford to fail, you will need me_. The shark voice seemed to foretell the future. _You will need this power to survive, to complete your mission, and I will be here, waiting._

As he journeyed through the blasted land of Sound, passing ruined farms and shattered hamlets, Ise could find nothing to contradict those words. He could feel that a trial was coming for him, and soon, and he did not know what to do. Killing energy had almost awakened in him in the fight in the bar. _Had the samurai drawn his sword I would have stabbed him dead_, that much Ise knew with certainty. _Would I have spared the others then? Or killed them too? _The shark-blooded ninja could find no easy answers, but knew he must. _I promised the Warlord I would succeed, I cannot allow myself to fail, I must find a way._

When the sun fell Ise made a simple camp off the roadside. He was distant from any towns; a precaution he hoped would spare him from attack. He carried no valuables, so it was unlikely for others to attack him, and bandits surely kept close to sources of wealth, food, and women. Therefore the camp was reasonably secure; at least, it would have been foolish for others to attack.

Ise spent spare time in the evening training, working through the forms of his spear with a desperate vigor, pushing himself hard. _I must be strong_, he told himself. _There are challenges coming, and I will need my skills as potent as ever if I am to survive them_. He kept it far from his mind, but as he worked through tight spins and thrusts of his utilitarian weapon Ise knew somewhere below consciousness that he would need to be flawless in order to find a victory without losing something of himself to that killing force within himself. _I must find a way to do this without becoming my uncle, I must!_ Such was his resolution, but as night fell, the mist ninja had little confidence in it; the sound country stole the surety of all within it beneath the lies and chaos sown by Orochimaru. It was a legacy destined to afflict this land for a long time.


	7. Chapter 6 The Formless Half

Author's Notes: Okay, new chapter, revealing the fate of the unfortunate Shiro. Note that this is a pretty serious chapter, but I believe it's definitely a good one. Shiro isn't the most important character in this story, but he has something rather interesting to do in time. For the action deprived don't worry, battle is coming very soon! 

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.

Chapter 6- The Formless Half 

Shiro's broken body lay on a cloth cot. The young ninja's form was wretched, his body barely moved, only the nearly imperceptible rise and fall of his chest as he drew shallow, wheezing breaths indicated he was still alive. Looking upon him was a trial, his body coated in livid burns; his chest and sides all but burned away, his arms ravaged. The boy's lips were gone, as were his eyes, leaving him blind, and without his outer ears, nearly deaf as well. Only his legs had been even partly spared, and they were still dotted with cruel blotches of dead flesh, where single drops of burning water had done cruel work. It was a testament to the power of Mizuho, so deadly that even a single drop of what could burn completely through a limb, causing death.

Even now Shiro clung to life only by the thinnest of margins, and that would not last long.

"I have done my best to heal him, brother," Yuki's sister told the head of her clan in clipped tones. "But no ninja, not even the brilliant Tsunade, could heal damage like this. That child is a walking corpse, why do you prolong his suffering?"

Yuki faced his sister with a countenance carved from stone. He was beyond feelings of guilt or horror, but even he could not suppress a twinge of emotion at the young man's suffering. "I have a reason, a very good one in fact, sister." Yuki told her. "Yet if you have not healed him enough, he will indeed die with nothing but prolonged suffering." He looked past her, to where Shiro's broken body lay. "Now, tell me, can he be awakened? Will he hear me if I speak to him?"

"Wakened?" his sister was incredulous. It was ridiculous, the idea of awakening this boy who had mere hours to live at best. "If you awaken him he might hear you, but he would not live for more than an hour past that, it is madness."

Ignoring his sister's last words utterly, Yuki gave an absolute command, in a tone that brooked no dissent. "Wake him."

His sister knew it was futile, but dared anyway, "But-"

"But nothing!" Yuki shouted, his voice trembling with rage. "He must be aware for what I am to do! Now wake him!"

"Yes, my lord," she obeyed.

Shiro came to wakefulness with a cough, it was the only sign he could give. His shattered body did not feel pain, there was nothing left to feel with, and his mind, schooled by medical jutsus, was clear. He remembered what had happened. _Yi burned me. I am dying_. He knew this to be the case. His eyes were gone. It was obvious enough, and it explained the blackness before him. He could recall that was of burning spray coming toward him, the instant of searing pain as all his nerves cried out in livid agony, and then were silent, burned away to nothing. _Why am I alive?_ Shiro wondered, _I cannot live long, why have I not been killed?_ He felt suddenly cheated. He had done his duty, he had tried to bring Yi back, but he had failed. She had refused to come back, had struck out at him when he tried to stop her. For an instant Shiro felt a stab of betrayal at that action. _She refused me!_ Then it was gone, melting away with great speed into a sea of quiet regret, and he knew it would never return. He could not stay angry with Yi; her actions had not been her fault. _Her freedom was worth more than my friendship_, Shiro recognized. _As well it should be, besides I was trying to cheat fate, she would be gone regardless. I could never have stopped her._ Now he did feel betrayal, betrayal by the others who had given him an impossible duty. _Why do I live, I have done my duty and died for it, is that not enough, why do I survive?_

The answer was not long in coming. "Shiro," a voice, one the stricken ninja recognized as his lord's, Mizain Yuki, spoke to him. "Can you hear my words?" It asked. "Do not try to speak, but if you can hear, move you head to the side once."

Shiro did as he had been commanded, shifting his head to the side slightly, then bringing it back.

"Good," Yuki's voice continued, its tone even, unhurried, lacking emotion. "I suspect you wonder why you still live, given your state of existence." It was not truly a question. "You believe you cannot be useful any further, a reasonable belief, given your injuries. Indeed, you shall die soon, a matter of hours at most, perhaps minutes. Nothing can stop this." There was almost an echo of satisfaction in Yuki's words, a satisfaction in this demonstration of his bloodline's power. "However, your belief is wrong, you are not useless, there is still a way you can be useful. There is indeed a way, but it will require great sacrifice, and you must choose this way yourself. Therefore, listen very carefully."

Shiro heard the admonishment, and strained his broken body to hear the words of Mizain Yuki, and to make certain he understood.

"There is a jutsu I know," Yuki told him. "It can save you. It will not heal your body, but it will freeze the damage to it, so that you will not die. Indeed, you will be fully functional again, able to move freely, and use all your senses to the fullest. In fact, this jutsu will make you very powerful, far more powerful than you could have ever hoped to be normally. However, this jutsu is not without costs, gave and terrible costs, so great that even I do not undertake this lightly. I would not even consider it save that you are dying, and this jutsu cannot be used upon you without your consent. The costs are these, though you will not die, and will be endowed with great powers, it will not truly _be _you who does these things, but your shadow. You see Shiro, this technique will sacrifice your soul, leaving your body to be controlled by your shadow. It will have great power at its disposal, for the shadow reflects all the power you possessed, ever would have possessed, or could have possessed during the course of your life, but it can only use this power once, for the shadow is a temporary thing, always fluid, and once it solidifies it fades away to nothing. This jutsu will give your body to your shadow, and it will undertake one task, and when that is done, it will fade away, and there will be nothing left of you, for your soul will have been sacrificed to the nether place from whence your shadow essence comes. You may take solace in only one thing, your shadow is a reflection of your nature, and while it controls your body, though it will not be you, it will act in all ways, as you would have. That is the nature of the jutsu I would perform upon you."

"Why should I allow this?" Shiro asked, his voice was cracked and broken, his lips gone and tongue barely functional, so that Yuki had greatly difficulty gauging the words, but the question was obvious.

"My daughter, Yi, has gone," Yuki answered. "She has left us for the outside world. It was not as I had planned it, but it has happened and there is no turning back. Yet, she has proven strong, stronger than I anticipated, and willful. She will not go quietly to the Mist as I would have wished, and her powers will attract attention. There will be great danger for her, danger that may find its way back to us. So, I need someone to follow her, to watch, and to insure she finds her way to where she needs go. I cannot send any of my people, I will need them all, but I can send you, if you agree to this jutsu. You will be sent to watch her, my agent to insure all goes as it must, and Yi's unseen protector."

Shiro could hear the words, he digested them slowly, even though he was conscious of how little time he had. He could feel his death coming, the slow loss of portions of himself as it faded away against the fires that were even now burning inside him. _Yi has gone_, he told himself, and he knew that, he would trust Mizain Yuki that far. As for the rest, he could not know, _would his lord lie to him? Certainly_, Shiro knew that was the truth. He could sense he was being manipulated, Yuki had a purpose behind this action, a purpose far beyond Yi's welfare, but Shiro decided that didn't matter. _Give up my soul for one chance to save her, that is my choice? Is it worthwhile?_ He wondered. _What is my soul worth anyway, what does it matter? My life has served no purpose till now, except for Yi. If I can do something for her, even after this, then I must make the sacrifice. It is the only reason for my existence to continue. _

So Shiro resolved, but a single question remained. "Yi is gone, how will I find her?"

Yuki smiled, knowing now his success, the boy would accept. "That is easy, Shiro, your mission will be to insure Yi goes to Mist as she was meant to go, your shadow will always know where it needs to be to complete that mission."

It was a satisfactory answer for Shiro. "I accept, my lord." He spoke if the remnants of his voice.

"Good," Yuki replied. "I will begin now." He turned away from the cot. "Sister, bring me a needle, and a knife. We must cut this boy's clothes away from his burnt body. Also a bowl, the cleanest we have, to hold the blood."

His sister blanched, for she knew the nature of this technique, she alone of the other Mizain understood what Yuki was about to do. Though she could never have done it herself.

A technique forbidden so long as the histories went back, but never forgotten, Shadow Soul Sealing, the power to take the freely offered soul of a ninja to the nothingness, and have their shadow govern their body forever after. It was the among the greatest sacrifices that could be made, to forsake whatever came after death, and cast the remnants of life away for a single mission, a single moment of purpose. It had long been practiced in secret on the terribly wounded and crippled, ninja who had given everything, but were asked for still more. In desperate times of war the shadow-souled might be created to fight in a single battle defending their homes. It was a terrible solution, but it worked. The shadow had great power when given command of the body, if only for a moment, and so the jutsu had been remembered. How Yuki had learned it having been only ten years old, a secret that none living were supposed to know was unknowable. Now he was to use it for the first time, to transform a boy who had been of no consequence mere hours before into a creature who could serve his design.

_Yi has run away, blindly into a world she does not know_, Yuki thought as he pricked Shiro's fingers and began to trace seals across the ninja's broken body with his greatly depleted blood. _She will not understand what is happening, and will use her powers._ The pattern took shape, intricate but fluid, never holding a single form before the eyes. Yuki's sister cut away Shiro's clothing as the seals continued to be traced, thin and wan the blood now, but the pattern would cover every inch of his skin, and the charred flesh where it had been burned away. _The Mist will find her_, Yuki knew, he was certain of it, _but so will others, those who should not have our power. Should the wrong ones find her first, it will be a disaster. You will be my insurance boy, her shadowy guardian, to insure the right ones find her. When that is done, you will fade away, and no one will ever know of my designs. _Yuki smiled as he traced the last symbols, over the burnt and scarred holes where there had once been Shiro's eyes.

Then he took the stone bowl, soaking with Shiro's last blood, and poured it over the boy's face.

Swiftly now Yuki's hands went through a complex, and ever shifting pattern of seals, supplied by his nearly perfect memory, again and again, seal after seal his hands flashed, a sequence corresponding precisely to the pattern drawn on Shiro's form. As his hands moved the Mizain leader's voice spoke in choppy speech, a counterpoint pattern to the own his hands made, a chant completely different, unlocking the power of shadowy reflection. He moved in perfect sequence, every pause to draw breath, every blink, all precisely timed for a single effect.

Yuki's sister watched in awe at her brother's work, shaping the energies of the extremely complex jutsu, taking Shiro's chakra from within his dying body and molding it, forming an invisible bridge to the shadow that even now clung to him beneath the cot in the dim lit of this room. The chakra moved and slid, caressing Shiro's body, touching every point of that symbolic pattern, and as Yuki chanted forming an invisible bridge, the blue chakra of living beings turning black, slowly, as the form completed.

Without warning Yuki fell silent, and his hands stopped. He separated them slowly, and stood. The chakra form over Shiro was completely black, and there were no gaps.

"Is it done?" His sister asked in awe.

"My part, yes," Yuki replied uncertainly. "I have not done this before, but I understand the boy must meet his shadow now, and let it take his soul. When his eyes open he will receive my command, and when he agrees, it will be done."

Words had rushed past Shiro in endless sequence, coupled to sensations he could still feel in some parts of his body not completely deadened. They cast a pall over him, clouding his senses, and he lost track of what was happening.

Then there came silence.

It was an absolute silence; no sound at all, not even the background noises of existence below the range of normal hearing that never faded. All sound was gone.

Shiro discovered he could see again. It did not come as a surprise. Somehow he had expected this. He found himself standing in an empty place, a blank plane without color. There was not light, but he could still see, there was no color, but forms existed.

"Where is this place?" Shiro asked aloud.

Sound rumbled through the world with great power, and Shiro discovered he could again hear.

"It is nowhere," his own voice answered.

Shiro discovered his reflection standing before him. He blinked, and saw it was not his reflection, for it appeared as he had before Yi had burned him, a whole person, a black haired, mild-skinned ninja who was in all ways average wearing an all black suit and carrying a simple sword bound to his back.

"Who are you?" Shiro asked the apparition.

"I'm you," this false Shiro replied in his own voice. "That is the nature of this place, between both our worlds."

Now Shiro recalled the words of Mizain Yuki, and began to understand. "You're my shadow." He spoke.

"That's one way of looking at it," his shadow replied. "But by coming here I'm not your shadow anymore, since the two worlds have been linked. We are somewhere inside your mind, but also in the shadowy world beyond existence where I exist."

"What are we doing here?" Shiro asked.

"Well," his shadow chuckled. "I've been summoned here, and your mind has made a place for me within it. It's a temporary place certainly, this state can't continue for very long. But that doesn't matter," the shadow continued. "As I understand it, you were offering to trade places with me?"

"Yes, yes," Shiro muttered. "That was what Yuki said would happen."

"Exactly, we trade places, you go onto my world, where something happens to your soul, something bad I imagine, since it was never meant to go there, and I get your body. Of course, I only get it temporarily, since you get to specify a time for me to reveal myself and use all the powers of my world, which will send me tumbling back once its done." The shadow looked deep into Shiro with his own eyes, a gaze more piecing than anything imaginable. "Frankly, its not a good deal for either of us."

"There are no good deals among the ninja," Shiro answered calmly. "But I am prepared to accept this one."

"Really?" the shadow shrugged, then reached behind his back, and pulled out the sword Shiro bore there. A sharp simple weapon, this blade, a straight-bladed ninja sword, two feet of sharp and deadly steal, to stab or cut an enemy. The shadow took the sword in one hand, and held the blade parallel to the ground, the point facing directly at Shiro's heart. "You would give up your soul to my world? To do that, I will plunge this blade into your chest. Be very certain of your decision, for what you could give away is worth far more than your life."

"Is it?" Shiro wondered aloud to his shadow. "If my soul is not my life, then it must be the sum of my experiences and my memories, and those are worth little, since so far my existence has been meaningless. If I die today there will have been no importance of use to of Mizain, no, not Mizain, I don't belong to that name, but simply Shiro. There will have be no reason for Shiro to have existed in the first place."

His shadow shrugged again. "Don't expect me to disagree, I am you, after all. The decision is entirely yours to make, do not let outside interests sway you, duty, honor, such things mean nothing here, as you are considering giving up your very nature, something far more precious. You must decide if the completion of one single task is worth that much."

"I believe it is more that I must decide if it is worth anything at all, since I don't give my soul any value, but it should not be given up for nothing," Shiro spoke aloud, but he was speaking to himself, his shadow had no need to respond. It would have said the same things he would have. "Yi, this is for her, nothing else. To insure that she lives, not simply that she saves the Mizain from discovery as her father wishes, but to save her as her own person. I have been linked to her for most of my short life; my only reason for existence, to be her friend, her guardian. Yuki will find another messenger, that task was meaningless. But do I give up myself to defend her from a single peril, one task only? Will that be enough to matter?" Shiro wondered at that, he had no easy answers, and in this world of shadow, clear lines were hard to find. Thoughts blurred as if cast about in a pervading wind, and even the black figure of himself as he was but hours before provided little focus. One thing Shiro did know, he bore Yi no ill will for what she had done, he considered her blameless, indeed he considered everyone blameless. He was a ninja and that had been his purpose.

"All ninja must have a reason to be a ninja," Shiro quoted, it was part of the histories. "We are not ninja simply because we are born to it, or because a task falls upon us, we chose the path of shadow and blood for ourselves. If that's true, then why am I a ninja?" The answer to that question, even in these depths of his mind, was clear. "For Yi's sake."

It all crystallized then, and with a suddenness that defied reality, the sky of shadow stopped movement. _If I have not lived a lie to this day, if I am still a ninja, I must do this_, Shiro decided. There was no more hesitation, only stony resolve. He turned to his shadow, staring into those eyes that he no longer possessed. "I agree to this."

It was done.

The shadow did not step forward, he was simply there, in front of Shiro, and the sword came plunging in.

Without pain the strike broke skin, penetrated flesh, and pierced the heart. No transition. All stopped.

Shiro awakened in the cot.

Shiro, and not Shiro. He could see again, and hear with perfect clarity. Likewise his sense of touch, burned away to nothing, had returned. Everything was as if he had never been wounded, and yet it was not at all. The first trigger was the memory of being wounded, it was not like a normal memory, but something seen from far off, a stranger's memory, as were all the memories, even those only seconds old. _I am Shiro, but he is dead_, Shiro recognized. _The ritual is complete_.

He sat up.

Twin gasps greeted him.

Shiro noticed Mizain Yuki and his sister standing over him. Yuki's composure returned almost instantly, while his sister remained terribly horrified. Shiro would have smiled, but recognized that action as meaningless since he had no lips. _It's not everyday you see a ghost sit up_, he almost chuckled inside, but it was, of course, not at all funny.

"So, it seems the jutsu was successful, you are now a shadow-souled ninja," Yuki spoke slowly, choosing his words carefully. "Well then, I charge you, Shiro shadow-souled, to follow my daughter, Mizain Yi, and insure she reaches the Hidden Mist ninja safely."

As Yuki spoke Shiro became aware of another sensation, a presence, far beyond him. _Yi_, he recognized immediately. His sense was not of where she was, but of where he must go to get there, and he knew then he would never lose track of her. "I will undertake this task, Mizai Yuki, but for my own reasons, not yours." Shiro told his former lord. _Former indeed, no one is my master now; there is only the task to obey._

Spoken as normal speech of a fifteen year boy from a mouth charred and lipless, beneath a face burned black and with naught but shriveled and terrible pits where the eyes should be, Shiro's countenance unnerved even Yuki's carefully trained presence. "It doesn't matter," Yuki replied far too flippantly.

"Yes, it does," Shiro replied firmly, and Yuki felt a sliver of doubt in his mind regarding this course of action, but pushed it away quickly. Whatever Shiro's reasons, he could not help but complete the task now. Shiro was not done, "I will need new clothes, and a ninja's gear," He told them matter-of-factly. "Once I have those, and my sword, I will leave."

"Like that?" Yuki's sister could not hold back her outcry.

"This body will not heal, but neither will it falter, while my task remains." Shiro answered.

"You will have your equipment," Yuki told him. "Sister, gather what he needs." She left the room hurriedly. "I suppose you need nothing else?"

"No."

"Good," Yuki smiled coldly. "Then I will leave you. No one will prevent you from leaving the compound. I am certain you shall never return here."

"You are correct."

Yuki departed, confident now he had made a masterful move. _The perfect watchdog for my daughter, made at the cost of one unimportant boy, a small price to pay for insurance of our secrecy._

Yuki's sister deposited the clothing and gear at the door, not wanting to enter the room with Shiro without he brother there. The realization dawned upon Shiro that he was now intimidating, for the first time in his life. _It is the eyelessness, more than anything else, he recognized as he wrapped black ninja garments around his body. The garb of the ninja will conceal everything else, but the lack of eyes will remain. I must remember its power_. He slid kunai into holsters and shuriken into their pouches, concealing all properly along the folds of his night garb. At last he strapped the sword to his back. _An excellent weapon_, Shiro decided, _after all, it killed me._

His last action before departing the Mizain compound, Shiro wound that cloth of his black mask over his ruined face, covering his hairless skull and destroyed mouth, leaving only the eyeless void about a shattered nose. Then the shadow departed upon his appointed task.


	8. Chapter 7 Beneficent Plague

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.   
Author's Notes: Hmm…no reviews in a chapter with Shiro, again, do people not like him or something? Well, anyway, back to Ise, and, since I know people are waiting, combat at long last. This chapter includes a major combat sequence with the appearance of a character from the actual Naruto story (though I won't say which one). So, this will serve as an opening glimpse at what Ise is really capable of, and the true nature of his bloodline. 

Please review if you read, I really appreciate them!

Chapter 7- Beneficent Plague 

(one week later)

The day dawned far more pleasantly than any of the previous days Ise had spent in Grass country. The chilly clouds that had rolled slowly over the land for the several days he had been present had hardly been interesting. It had only rained one of those days, and Ise found that irritating. Mist hardly ever had long spells of torrid overcast; it either rained, covered the land in fog, or was sunny. To a ninja like Ise rain or fog was a perfectly comfortable state, in fact it was preferable in many ways to sunshine, for rain did not irritate his hardened shark-like skin, and he always felt more secure with water all about.

Today, however, it was sunny, and pleasant yellow light shined over the sound country. It cast the land in a more favorable light, and Ise decided the country was not so bleak and hopeless as he had previously determined it must be. It helped that he was now walking through a more wilderness dominated land, the forests of the southern sound country, near the Fire country border, a land with few people. There had been ninja activity here, of course, as the Leaf ninja had reasserted their ability to keep the Sound off their land, but it had not destroyed the landscape.

So, the mission was more or less enjoyable for Ise at this point, he walked through the land, avoiding everyone, and training with his spear in spare hours. He was attempting to make the best of this time, for he knew it wouldn't last. He had determined he had only two more days in the Sound country, then perhaps a week's journey across countries lacking in ninja and the southern portion of Waterfall country before he reached the territory of Grass country. There his search would begin in earnest and the leisurely walk would end. So Ise made the best of the time he had, setting a sufficient, but not hasty pace. _I will conserve my strength for the trials ahead_, he had decided after the first day's travel.

Yet, though things were relatively peaceful here in the forest, Ise felt a tendril of doubt within. _This has been too easy_, he thought_. I have not been attacked, or even bothered in all my travels through sound, save the first day_. True, he had avoided the roads mostly, camping in the forests and eating his supply of trail food, going into town only once to replenish it and his water supply, so he was hardly a tempting target, but he expected more. _These rogue ninja must surely know I am here, do they not care that I cross their lands? Have I been protected by traveling close to the Fire country?_ Ise wondered, but did not dwell on it, there seemed little urgency to the matter anymore after a succession of peaceful days.

It would never occur to the Mist ninja, accustomed to a land of sea, spray, and endless fog that the Sound ninja might be waiting for a nice day.

When the forest cleared away ahead of him suddenly Ise was surprised, but he kept on, until he entered into a wide field covered in tree stumps. _A cut_, he reasoned, and recent, for the undergrowth was still beaten down. This was not in itself surprising; the nearby villagers certainly had need of wood for many things. Ise saw the forest continued to the west beyond, so he simply kept walking.

It took several minutes of walking through open land before Ise realized the size of the cut had initially been deceiving, and this was a much larger cleared area than he had believed. _I am not so good at judging distances after all that time in the forest_; he smiled, thinking it something important to catch now. Then a step later he spun around, worried. _This is a major lumber operation, surely, but there is no one anywhere near_. Ise cocked his ear to the wind, searching for sound. Nothing. He immediately grasped his spear with both hands and fell in a fighting stance. "Damn!" He cursed openly, berating himself for being a fool_. I've been in the open for too long, I've surely been seen_. This place must have been raided, and recently. _They will not want me to get away, this will be a fight, but where?_ Ise spun a full circle slowly, searching the edges of the cut, looking for any signs, but of course he found nothing. His enemies, and he was certain someone was there, were waiting.

Stay calm, Ise told himself. The situation may not be bad; you knew an attack would come. Think about it as you've been trained, just like in other battles. He told himself this, and as he stood there went through a quick reasoning process, trying to categorize the situation and determine a response. _There cannot be too many, and they must be scattered_, Ise reasoned quickly, _if they were raiding the timber harvesters. If so, they must be coming together to plan an ambush. Where?_ He recognized the simple trap with ease. _At my heading! Then, I should avoid them, try to prevent them from coming together, it's a large cut, I should run in another direction. Which way? Which way would they least wish to pursue? Toward the village? No! Toward the Fire country!_

His decision made, Ise started to run, moving as fast as he could without breaking into a sprint, he had to hope there was enough distance to make this a long chase. His endurance was good, though he couldn't move as fast over open ground as through the trees, and so he knew his enemies would be able to circle around faster, possibly much faster if they were quite skilled. Still, that could benefit him, anything to isolate his opponents, even if he had to fight the most skilled first.

Now, out of the corner of his eyes Ise could catch flashes of motion in the distance, glimmers of metal taking in the bright sunlight, and he knew he had guessed correctly. _They are coming; I must hurry_, he thought, but dared not quicken his pace. He had been trained well and knew he could hold this speed for a great while without tiring, any faster and his endurance would not last. _I must be ready when they come, not tired. _Indeed, Ise hoped to tire his enemies by forcing them to come to him in this way.

The treeline was still far however, hundreds of meters distant, too far. Ise knew, measuring the speed of those glimmers in the woods that must be ninja. _I won't make it, damn!_ He gripped his spear more tightly. He would have to fight, and against enemies whose count and skill he did not know. It was not a promising situation.

Ise was a chuunin, a mist ninja of moderate skill, and he had fought other ninja in battle before, ninja from Lightning in one of the endless border skirmishes between the two countries. He was a good fighter, though his skills were nothing special for a ninja of his rank and age. Never before had he fought enemy ninja alone and isolated, save in one on one matches, and so Ise did not know precisely how to act in this situation. He was forced to rely on the lessons of his teachers and the Warlord. _How many in a bandit team?_ He wondered, and then dismissed it. He could not think on that, only take them as they came. _What is my strategy?_

"When you are alone against many enemies the first action is the most important," He remembered Akai's words, the words of a master of ninja warfare. "Strike first with your best techniques, and you must strike down enemies. In this way you reduce the numbers of those against you and intimidate the others, for they will not know your strength. In this way you may defeat a large group by destroying only a small portion of it." That was one part of the strategy, and Ise took it to heart, especially as the strongest foes might reach him first. _These are bandit ninja, if I can kill one or two, will the rest retreat?_ It seemed his best chance.

There was another lesson that replayed in the shark-blooded ninja's mind as he ran. "When you are alone, insure your fights are one to one or one to two at most, make each fight its own. If you do this, and keep multiple enemies from focusing upon you, then you force either a single foe or fatigue to defeat you." It was not an easy thing to do, Ise knew, for when he had fought in groups they had always concentrated on bringing their force to bear against sole opponents, but it was his best strategy. _These sound ninja are rogues; I must remember that, they may have little discipline._

All time for thought was then gone, for the trees were but a short distance away, perhaps fifty yards, when Ise saw the first enemy with clarity. The sound ninja was older than he, a grown man, but age means nothing in the measurements of the ninja. The man wore a tattered uniform of gray, with a ripped mask covering most of his face, and Ise knew that the sound ninja were indeed bandits. He also saw that the pouch holding the man's shuriken was clean and sound, and so the man was ready.

_I must strike him swiftly!_ Ise decided and he launched himself into a full sprint, pushing himself as fast as he could run, easy enough since he did not need to change direction or anything else. His stride lengthened swiftly, the long legs of his good height carrying him swiftly toward his foe.

The sound ninja reached behind him and pulled out a quartet of shuriken, flinging them into the air to intercept Ise's charge.

Ise's eyes tracked the missiles, and he confirmed his plan. Instants before they would intersect his path he swung his spear through his hands, and slammed the point down into the soft earth. At the same instant he focused chakra into his legs and leapt.

The mist ninja pole-vaulted high into the air with suddenness shockingly apparent in his enemy's eyes.

Timing his arc carefully, Ise made certain to hold to the spear behind him. At the precise moment he strained his arms and brought the long trailing weapon around under him, to point it at his enemy, thrusting forward sharply.

The sound ninja had not thought the move an attack, so he had little time to dodge backwards, but even so, as he did he ripped a kunai free from his holster so he might counterattack with the dagger-like weapon.

Spears were not common weapons among ninja, who rarely used such large and obvious tools, and Ise knew this well. It was the key to his deception and attack. The sound ninja stepped back, thinking himself out of the way, but Ise shifted his hands, and slid them further back on the eight-foot long weapon, giving him an additional foot and a half of distance, for he had been holding the spear too close before.

The sound ninja's shock was clear as Ise's spear took him in the chest.

"Bastard!" The cry was savage and raw, and accompanied by a thrown kunai.

Ise ripped his spear free, a brutal move savaging the body of the impaled ninja, spraying droplets of blood down to the forest floor. Then he spun, parrying swiftly with a spin of the long weapon. He saw the others then, seven ninja leaping toward him through the trees, even as it dawned on him that he was a dead man, for he could not defeat so many foes, there was no hesitation. He had a moment as they approached, a single space of time, for the nearest had wasted his throwing weapon. Desperately Ise used his best technique.

Hands flashed through seals, as Ise drew on the powers his shark blood granted him, the techniques usable only to those of his bloodline. "Shark's Spit Missiles!"

Ise's mouth ripped open wider than a normal human's could go then, as his jaw extended its different bone structure. It was confusing to his enemies, for his disguise could not accommodate the move, but the effects were no less potent.

Shark's teeth burst from Ise's mouth in a great and powerful stream, the little deadly knives blasting free in the hundreds, forming a cone of destruction that widened as the teeth ricocheted off each other to fly in new and novel directions.

His opponents had not anticipated such an attack, as the blast of teeth struck at the whole body, and no specific part, and they found there was nowhere to dodge as they sprayed everywhere, all were struck by at least some of the tiny missiles, and felt their cutting edges rake through their skin with serrated pain.

All the seven ninja were affected at some level, with nasty and cruel lacerations opening on their bodies and cuts in their clothes, but the ninja closest Ise, the one who had wasted his throw without discipline, he caught the worst of the blast directly, and the teeth ravaged his body, taking his eyes, his ears, and ripping so many cuts through fingers and feet that he fell to the ground and could not move. The bleeding would kill him in moments.

Two had been slain, but six remained. Ise grasped his spear, and turned to face the onrushing foes.

A great scream broke through the woods.

It was a horrid noise, made by no natural human or animal, and Ise felt it pass through him and knew it was a jutsu. He took a step and tried to dodge away, but the world blurred and spun. The ground and sky swam before him and his ears told him nothing but lies. _Damn!_ He attempted to scream, but found he could not speak, and he stumbled from the tree branch where he stood to slam into the ground.

Ise could not control his body, though he spun about all he could sense was the terrible sound ringing through him, an awful, overwhelming blast of vertigo so great he could barely move. He managed to place the butt of his spear down on the ground and lever himself to standing.

Then a new pain took him, as Ise felt cold steel penetrate his flesh. A kunai, he could feel the wound, stuck into his back. He could only cringe and hold his spear. _I must have focus! _Ise told himself through the vertigo and the pain. _Focus now or die!_ He tried, but everything slipped away beneath the maddening distortions the sound had inflicted.

From nowhere a fist slammed into Ise's head and he fell to the ground, barely holding his spear. _I can't see anything real!_ Ise realized. The vertigo had so totally overwhelmed him. So he lay there, confused and unable to act.

"Bastard!" Ise heard a voice spit through the screaming noise still in his ears. "Stinking meddler, you killed two of my comrades!" The voice was laced with raw anger, but still held discipline, and Ise knew this one must be the leader. "Why are you here Mist ninja?" The sound ninja kicked Ise in the side, it was painful, but Ise didn't care about the pain anymore, he was too desperately trying to focus on regaining control of his senses. "Answer me and I might let you die quickly. Well?" The sound ninja demanded.

_Can't see, can't hear properly, sound coming from everywhere!_ Ise's thoughts swam, but he desperately tried to find a focus. _All my senses have been scrambled!_ He was desperate, and tried to scream, but he managed little more than a croak. The pain provided a brutal counterpoint to the confusion, but it also provided a stabbing moment of clarity for a moment. _I can still feel pain!_ Ise recognized, _the pain in my side! You idiot Ise_, he told himself_, its only sight and sound that have been scrambled. Fool! Don't rely on those_, a voice within him spoke_. That's a human failing, you aren't a human, you have other senses._

Ise closed his eyes.

"Don't ignore me!" The sound ninja barked. "You've one second to answer or I'll cut off one of your arms."

Ise wasn't listening; he was focusing on something he had discovered suddenly. He knew where the others were, exactly, perfectly. There was a redness to them, he could sense them perfectly, knew every one of their wounds and cuts he had inflicted. He needed only a free moment to strike. He knew also, that he didn't have that moment, even as a voice inside was shrieking at him to lunge and kill. He was already doomed.

The sound ninja above Ise raised his kunai, preparing to bring it down across Ise's left arm.

"How stupid," A voice suddenly interceded. The sound ninja turned, and saw a ninja had descended from the trees. "Typical of you sound ninja."

"Stupid?" The sound ninja shrugged. "I would have thought a leaf ninja would have known better than to show himself to us, one against six."

"You should not attack other ninja for no reason," the other answered, his voice crisp, matter-of-fact, and not using unnecessary words.

Ise sensed the newcomer, just as the others, this one was not bleeding, but there was something else. There was a human shape to what he detected, to the shark's perfect awareness of scent, but this newcomer was not human. No, and beneath that Ise noted something else, a sharp tang. _Metal._ Ise's face broke into a predatory grin from the ground. _A cunning trap._

"I had questions for the Mist bastard, but I have no questions for you, Leaf ninja." The sound ninja answered. "You will die now! Sound Ripchord no jutsu!" The sound's hands formed a seal, and he screamed a pitched blast of sound powerful enough to shatter human flesh at the leaf ninja standing before him.

The body exploded.

It exploded, but not into flesh, a cloud of blackness came apart in a swarm of insects, and within those, kunai and shuriken. The sound blast scattered them apart like a bomb, and the sound leader found himself impaled by a storm of jagged darts he himself had unleashed without even a moment to dodge.

A smoke bomb exploded among the gathered ninja, and another scream broke out as the true leaf ninja dropped from the trees and stabbed one of the sound ninja in the back. Brown dust and grit covered everything, blanketing vision and reducing ninja to vague profiles in a cloud.

Ise rolled to the right, leaping upward to the nearest foe. He came up behind the man, who, confused and unready, had expected no attack at all from this source. Ise grabbed his throat with both hands, crushing him to the ground.

"You…im-possib-le…" The sound ninja gasped. "You…you…can't…see!"

"I can't see," Ise growled, "But I can still smell you, and your blood." Chakra flowed into his hands, increasing his strength, and he wrenched the man's neck swiftly, dropping him.

Ise spun around again then, relying only on memory and scent to guide him. The vertigo was gone now, and the smoke bomb was an aid rather than a crippling hindrance. He came up with his spear as he felt shuriken pass over where he had stood moments ago. Ise twisted a space on his spear with his left hand, as he grasped the butt of his weapon with his right, and he felt its segments fall apart, revealing the long, coiled string between them. He snapped the weapon out, a long whip now, taking another of the sound ninja, tripping him, and pulling him in.

The sound ninja screamed, but Ise pulled a kunai from his holster and stabbed him through the heart with a single motion.

Shark-blooded ninja spun around now, snapping his spear back together into its solid form, his nose hunting for the enemy.

"Bugs! Bugs! Get them off!" One of the remaining sound ninja screamed in panic, and then was suddenly silent.

Ise's nose found the remaining ones then, sound ninja and the strange scent of the leaf ninja, human and yet not. He advanced toward the sound ninja with his spear ready, stabbing in.

The other man blocked it with a drawn kunai, and they traded blows for a moment, until a shuriken took the sound ninja in the back of his left knee, and he stumbled.

The mist ninja did not hesitate at all, but ran him through with the full force of his spear.

Only then did Ise open his eyes.

Vision swam for a moment, but then it cleared, and he found his senses restored even as the residue of the smoke bomb cleared. All eight of the sound ninja lay dead nearby, one just finished moments ago, for Ise turned to see the strange leaf ninja pulling a kunai out of the one who had screamed about bugs.

The other ninja was not quite what Ise had expected, he was a young man, Ise suspected younger than he himself was. The Leaf ninja wore a long green coat covering his whole torso and reaching up to blanket most of his face. His eyes were hidden securely behind dark lenses, the Leaf forehead protector, with its spiral symbol, tied down cropped spiked hair, similar in some ways to Ise's own. The leaf ninja had his hands casually in his coat's pockets, as if nothing had just happened. Though those arms appeared at rest Ise could tell the leaf ninja could bring them up quickly and readily, it was a pose meant to lull others into a false sense of security.

_Now what?_ Ise wondered. The situation was likely to be tricky, but he could feel nothing but gratitude for this young ninja, who had saved his life for certain. He was silent as he felt the other's eyes upon him, hidden behind those frightfully concealing black glasses.

"The sound ninja ambushed you?" the leaf ninja asked.

"More or less," Ise replied, speaking simply, but assuring his voice did not sound overly guarded. "I seem to have encountered them at a bad time."

"Raiding the lumber camp?" he asked, and when Ise nodded, he continued. "It was suspected, I was to confirm it."

"You weren't hunting the sound?" Ise asked, for he had thought that was why the Leaf ninja was present here.

"Just scouting them," the leaf replied, "I was not about to attack eight of them on my own."

"Yeah, those aren't the best of odds," Ise chuckled miserably.

"No," His gaze shifted, drifting down to lower on Ise. "You're injured."

Ise had almost forgotten the wound in his back. He reached down and felt the kunai. A single tap brought a stab of pain, but he could tell nothing truly serious was damaged. His hand closed around the grip and he tugged with a swift motion.

The leaf ninja twitched slightly.

It did hurt, quite a bit of course, but Ise clenched his teeth and forced himself to ignore the pain. It wasn't that bad really, he'd had worse wounds, and pain seems somewhat unimportant when you expected to die only minutes before. Without taking his eyes off the leaf ninja he took gauze from his flak jacket and spread it over the wound, making a makeshift bandage to staunch the flow of blood.

"Do you need the aid of a medical ninja?" the leaf ninja asked, with a hint of concern in his voice.

"I'll be fine," Ise answered. "Besides, I can't take time off from my mission."

"The wound may fester."

"No," Ise replied firmly, "It won't." That was one benefit of being shark-blooded Ise didn't mind, it would take a wound far more grievous than this to bring him even close to disease vulnerability. "Besides, though I appreciate the kindness, it's not really appropriate."

"I suppose," the leaf ninja replied. "There is after all, no treaty."

That was indeed the crux of it, the Leaf and Mist were not allied nations, far from it, peace existed between them only on the prevalence of the balance of power, and the results of a single duel fifteen years before. The nations were not friendly, and though conflicts were rare that was more due to the nearly constant state of warfare between Mist and Lightning than any agreement between the two groups of ninja.

"You did not have to attack them, so you have my thanks." Ise told the leaf ninja.

"It was too good of an opportunity for an ambush," the other replied. "Besides, you helped greatly."

Ise nodded, and something came back to him about the fight. "How did you pull that trick with the bugs?" He wondered.

"I have methods," the leaf ninja replied, and as Ise watched he saw bugs crawl out from within the other ninja's body in great quantity. It was quite shocking, but Ise knew suddenly that here was a ninja similar to him, one with a strange ability that would make him a near outcast among others. It only strengthened his deep feeling of gratitude.

"Interesting," Ise replied, honest in his voicing. "It was an awfully good trap."

"Can you tell me why you're here?" The leaf ninja asked suddenly.

Ise had expected the question; actually he had expected it quite a bit earlier and not nearly so politely phrased. "I'm sorry," he said, trying to be equally polite, for indeed he was. "But I cannot, my mission takes me many places, but I cannot reveal it to you. I will say that I am merely passing through this land, and will soon be gone."

"I see," was the other's only response.

Ise hobbled over to the leaf ninja, using his spear to support him and to avoid aggravating his injury. "Though I can't tell you my mission, you did save my life, and I owe you a debt for it." He extended his right hand. "My name is Hoshigake Ise, ninja of Hidden Mist."

"Aburame Shino," the leaf ninja told him. "This is unnecessary."

"Perhaps," Ise replied. "But I do owe you my life, and someday, I hope I will get the chance to pay it back to you." He held out his hand. "I will pay it back," He insisted with a shark-toothed smile.

Shino took his own hand from his pocket and took Ise's carefully. They clasped their hands together for a second; shook once, and then let go, returning his hand to hiding swiftly. "I accept your gift."

"May we meet again, and not as enemies," Ise said when the moment had ended.

"Indeed," Shino replied. "Goodbye." He jumped back into the trees.

Ise saluted as the other ninja vanished into the woods, then collapsed down to a stump. "A strange young ninja," He said to himself, conscious that all leaf ninja were supposedly strange. They held strange ideals, or so it was said, but Ise had been impressed by Shino's actions, and he lay in quiet thought about this for some time. _I will go no farther today_, he decided, and made camp among the stumps, knowing a days rest would let his wound close fully so he might travel without hurting himself. The pain was already fading away.


	9. Chapter 8 The Troubled World

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property. 

**Author's Notes:** So, I'm finally posting another chapter. I apologize to any readers, things have been busy here for a while and I've been involved in some other projects. Things may stay slow for a while, until it eases up a bit, but rest assured I'm not abandoning the story. Anyway, this chapter is about Yi, and I feel it's a very good one.

To answers reviewers, and hopefully encourage some more:

About Shino, his role in this story is unfortunately rather minor, I would have liked it to be greater, but the logistics of it simply isn't possible. However, he will appear in this story again, so that's something to keep in mind, and his actions have already been significant for Ise.

Chapter 8 – The Troubled World 

(one week later)

Grass country was normally a warm place, wide grassland kept hot and dry by potent winds, but it could be cold at times, especially in the morning. In this late summer air, the wind had stopped overnight, and when morning came it was surprisingly cold. Of course, few would have called this cold, who had not lived all their life in warm climes, but there was enough chill to be noticed.

Yi hated the cold, she despised it, and even more she absolutely despised being cold, it made her feel confined and unnatural to be cold. Something deep in her skin and bones cried out against that state of being, longing to be warm, even hot. Cold made Yi angry.

_Was it Mizuho?_ She had once wondered, and of course that must be part of it, but Yi could not tell if her bloodline made her despise the cold of its own, or whether it was simply something that happened because she wielded the power. After all, growing up in a world where almost everyone had the power to make water burn, Yi had only very rarely even been cold. So perhaps she hated being cold because she had never been exposed to it well as a child, and because even now, it was scarcely something that could cling to her for long.

This morning in grass, a chill wind slunk across the low ground, and the dew-covered grasses of this prairie were soaking with it. Yi awoke amid that grass, hidden away in a tiny scrape in the ground, shivering. She felt cold water all about her, seeping through her peasant's clothes, stealing the warmth from her.

Her awaking brought a stinging anger at this state. Yi's reaction was swift. "I'm not going to be wet and cold!" She hissed, and the water all along her body burst into low flames.

Like that, the cold was banished instantly, and Yi was filled with glowing warmth from the power of Mizuho's flames. She felt a nagging voice in her say that this was a waste of chakra, the dew would have melted off quickly enough anyway, but Yi ignored it. It was the voice of her father talking, instructing her in how to be a proper ninja, to conserve her abilities to be maximally useful as a weapon. "I'm not a proper ninja anymore," She chuckled, partly amused, and partly deeply saddened. Recalling her banishment sent Yi's mind traveling down too many unpleasant paths, as the raw memories of the recent past assaulted her.

The young ninja gathered her small amount of gear together, weapons, stolen food and money, and the ragged clothes she used as a blanket. She packed it all together into her crumply knapsack, itself stolen from a peasant's house. All of these things went atop her ninja uniform, carefully placed at the bottom of the sack, and protected beneath the one waterproof covering she had. It was Yi's only real tie to her past, the uniform made in the secret compound of the Mizain, the only unique thing she had now. Her weapons were commonplace, she could have purchased identical replacements in any moderately sized town, and all the other things she carried had been stolen. _I am a thief_, Yi thought with bitter regret again this morning, as she had every morning for over a week. _I am no longer a ninja._

She certainly did not resemble one, dressed in ragged peasants clothes that didn't fit properly over her lithe frame, having been once sized for a boy, and carrying a ratty knapsack the kind a farmer might cart with him on trips to town. Yi looked like nothing other than a very strange peasant girl. Her hair was still distinctive, she had so far refused to cut it, even though the red and aquamarine stood out, serving along with her eyes to mark her as a strange person, one to be avoided.

_I am a little thief, an outcast now, and it is obvious to everyone. What is this life?_ Yi had no answers, it seemed only that everything had gone wrong since the night she fled her father's imprisonment. _Shiro…NO! Don't think about that!_ She shoved the memory away, still unable to face what she had done.

It had not gotten better since that night for her. As Yi began to walk through the unending grasslands she wallowed in the harsh memories, memories that would not give her any peace, for she saw no way to escape the path she was on. Freedom was hers, but it was a peasant's freedom, and such was poor sustenance for the soul of a ninja. Yi had escaped blindly to the open grasslands composing the wide expanse of grass country, leaving the forests, the only environment she had ever known. At once the openness of it had staggered her, a world with few trees, only the scrubby grasses stretching to the horizon, a world exposed. It was not a ninja's world, with no place to hide, where the sun beat down mercilessly on everyone and everything.

The first day had been hellish, the sun and space assaulted her from without, while hunger and the pain of memory attacked from within, a two-pronged scourge that tossed Yi about and left her by the side of one of the few roads, sobbing for hours. In the end it was only hunger that kept her going, her mind wanted nothing but to wallow in regret, but her body demanded food, and she had none with her.

In all her confined life as a Mizain, Yi had only been permitted on expeditions into the outside world four times, and only once before to grass country. Still, she had been schooled in such things; she understood the basics of life in the world beyond her home, even if at once remove. Money to buy things, work to get money, a world with many families who gathered together in villages and towns, Yi thought of these things, foreign experiences. Still, she had gone in to one of the small trading towns dotting the open grassland, her hunger demanded it.

Yi had no money, the Mizain did not bother with such things, but it was easy enough to recognize that simply taking things was impossible. The world did not function that way, if you lacked money you went without. That she might find work had never been a consideration in Yi's mind, she knew too little of the world, instead she turned immediately to thievery.

It was so easy, food, money, even other, more useful things like clothes, all could not be kept from a trained ninja. The grass villages soon recognized they had a thief among them, however, and though Yi had been cautious and never left clues, samurai came after her anyway, for she was an outsider. She soon discovered it was only possible to spend a few days in any town before the people began to chase outsiders away in their fear. Though she had expected it, Yi still felt rejected every time.

_But I can't stop_, she sighed as she walked on. _There's nowhere to go_. That was Yi's greatest problem. As long as she kept moving relatively often she was confident she could survive easily. Already she had enough money stored up that she could probably survive through the winter on it once it came, but there was nothing for her to do. She was a ninja, not a peasant, or even some kind of merchant. Yi lacked the skills of living as anything but her father's tool. Survival was easy; living was hard. Idly she had planned to travel through Grass country slowly, eventually coming to the Fire country, which lay to the southeast according to maps she remembered. There were forests there, and she would like to be in forest again, but it was a random fancy, and there was no will behind it. _I'm not a traveler, or a peasant, or a thief! I'm a ninja!_ Yi wanted to scream the declaration to the whole world, but she could only silently say it to herself. Still, it was the truth; something she had discovered was inescapable.

_I can't keep living like this_, Yi recognized through the fog of her misery. _My father made me into a ninja; I can't escape him even now. I need to be a ninja, or I'll die like a thief soon enough._ Even as she pondered this, there was no hope, for Yi could see no way to continue as anything but the wandering thief she now was. A lone ninja cannot do anything but die, the lessons of history, painstakingly learned, told her that much. _Besides, I have a bloodline, like all Mizain there is only death for me if ninja find me._

So the Mizain girl continued to wander, coming up on another of the scattered trading towns in late evening. Her stomach rumbled, and the temptation to use some of her hidden money at an inn was great, but she overrode it. Her survival instincts were too strong. There was no reason to do such a thing. She would save her stolen funds and take dinner from a house or inn in the dark of night, and hopefully gain more money as well. Opportunities could not be passed over, Yi held to that much in her creed, she had to keep true to everything she could of ninja ways, or she knew it would all vanish.

Darkness fell over the grasslands like a serene blanket; clouds passing overhead obscured even the stars, until the empty blackness was complete. The trading town fell swiftly silent beneath that encompassing blanket, for this was a world where all followed the rhythms of the sun. All save the ninja.

Mizain Yi crept softly above the rooftops of these sturdy buildings, hunting out a restaurant that had closed down. It was a prime target, filled with food and money as well. She moved to look at it from the building that stood closest, her excellent night vision revealing a window on the second floor that would serve easily as an entrance.

With a skillful fluidity Yi leapt across to the windowsill, catching it easily and pulling herself up to sit upon it. Even the thin beam supported her slight body well enough. Removing a slender probe from her shuriken pouch she twitched the latch on the window silently, and slowly slid it open. _I can't make any noise_, Yi reminded herself constantly. _Noise is the ninja's greatest enemy._

When she slid inside, darkness enveloped her completely. The walls of these buildings were stout to resist the high winds that poured over the prairie and the great blizzards that sometimes racked them in winter, and so no light passed through on this cloudy night. Despite keen night vision, Yi could not see anything beyond the barest of shadowy outlines.

_A risk, this_, she thought. It was the eternal puzzle. Did she attempt to move through the darkness and risk bumping into an object, alerting the residents, or did she dare to provide a tiny amount of illumination? _What to do here?_ Yi considered, but only for a moment.

_A bit of light is better_, she thought. The walls here are well insulated, so a noise will be highly remarked. It's not like homes in the forests. Her choice made, Yi reached down into the canteen that hung on her belt. She opened the cap and stuck one finger into the water there. Carefully she took her finger and drew it across her face, just below each eye.

Yi couldn't resist the slightest silent chuckle at her method when the world sprung into light.

Mizuho is a killing power, first and foremost, such is the nature of waterfire, but to the creative ninja mind, far more things are possible with this special method of creating flame. The thin bands of water Yi had placed under her eyes were not enough to burn much, and they cast only the palest of glows, but in the position she had placed them, they acted as lights to guide her vision, illuminating her world just enough to see.

_Time to move_, Yi thought, standing up. She now saw that she was inside a bedroom, one that was indeed occupied. An old man slumbered silently in a bed against the far wall, his breathing quiet and steady. _Likely the master's father_, Yi recognized, but she was glad she was silent. Now there came the need to move, the lights beneath her eyes illuminated her vision only, another would notice her only if they looked straight at her, but the water would evaporate quickly in this fashion, so Yi had little time.

Wraithlike the young ninja shuffled down the hallways of the restaurant, descending steep stairs into the kitchen below. She saw then the jumble of pots and pans and other utensils left from the unrestrained chaos of an eatery. They would merely shift status every day as the hours changed, never completely controlled. She was very careful moving through the kitchen, for it was a silent web ready to entangle any ninja who made the slightest mistake.

Yi ignored the many things left out on the cooking tables or by the banked ovens, going instead to the cabinets behind them. Carefully she opened several of these, watching the hinges as she did to insure no squeaking. It was here she found hat she needed. _Preserved food! _A great swell of satisfaction spread in Yi. _Rice! Bread! Vegetables! And even a duck! _One of the prairie fowl hung waiting, a treasure Yi could not wait to cook. She took all these things, not everything, but a sizable portion, enough to feed her for three days or so, and stuffed it into a small bag she had carried for this purpose.

Carefully Yi shut the cabinets when she was done. _All right, one task done_. She was satisfied with this success, but she was not finished here. _I have food then, but not money. There will be some, I know_. A restaurant would have a reasonable amount of cash at all times. Yi had no desire to steal this family's whole savings, but certainly the cash box, with money ready for the morning to come, that would serve well. She searched carefully, above the flickering guides of her watery headlamps. _Where is it? Ah, the counter there._

Moving up to the counter Yi pulled out a small hidden drawer, one obviously intended to go unnoticed by casual passerby. Inside there was a simple wooden box with a tight latch. With quick hand's Yi felt the latch, and then opened it with her ninja tools. _This is what I need_, excitement dashed through her.

Perhaps it was the darkness, which made it impossible for Yi to truly see anything even with her little headlamps, or perhaps it was excitement, or perhaps a combination of both, but regardless, she made a very simple mistake. It was not a big thing, just opening the box cleanly, and not checking to see what was within it from a crack first, but it only takes one mistake in the world of the ninja.

A tiny bell came down from the box's top as Yi swung it open, and before she could catch it, hit the end of its short string.

Ting!

The sound was clear and audible in the silent restaurant. Yi grabbed the bell instantly, placing it back into the box as she hurriedly grabbed the coins and notes hidden there with her other hand, stuffing them into her sack, but the damage had been done.

Another sound came suddenly, the creaking of a board.

Yi watched in horror as a man stood up out in the front room. _What?_ She thought in near panic. It took her a moment to realize the man was a samurai, an impoverished ronin it seemed, and who must have begged the master to sleep curled up in the front room. It was a random event, but Yi knew it spelled disaster.

The man rose, and turned even as Yi tried to duck behind the counter, hoping she would not be noticed.

"Who's there?" the samurai called out clearly, not keeping his voice down.

_He'll wake the others!_ Yi realized. _I have to silence him, now!_

The ninja came up, and as she crested the counter a kunai flew from each hand.

The room was all but lightless, and the samurai surely could not see, but he could hear those sharp dagger-like implements slash into the air.

Sword sprang from scabbard with a perfectly practiced precision, and the distinctive ring of metal against metal sprang forth. "Ninja!" The samurai recognized immediately.

_Damn!_ Yi had no time for thought, as her kunai were blocked away she reacted on pure instinct. A large bowl, filled with water to clean over the night, lay within reach of her left hand. Her hand plunged into that bowl suddenly, and then she thrust it forward, flicking her fingers.

"Wha?" the blinded samurai began.

Then the water burst into flames. Droplets struck the samurai all over the front of his chest, burning furiously. Pain lanced through his body, and instinct overwhelmed his thoughts, taking control of his reactions in the most primitive of ways.

He screamed.

The samurai's voice was loud, schooled by the battlefield, and his scream was not something to be stopped by walls or doors, all nearby would hear.

Yi knew she had but instants. Her training took over now, all the endless hours her father and relatives had spent turning her as best they could into a weapon. The samurai was burning, panicked, vulnerable.

Yi's hands slammed down on the countertop, and she vaulted over it. Her right foot extended and she struck the samurai in the face, knocking him backward.

Her right arm snapped down and ripped loose a kunai. Another motion and she brought it forward, stabbing hard into the samurai's chest with all the strength her arms possessed.

Blood spurted around the wound as the kunai plunged deep into the man, then Yi wrenched the blade to the right, and it found his heart. Light faded from the samurai's eyes and he collapsed to the floor.

Yi did not even pause to land, but pushed off of the falling body, pulling her kunai free as she flipped in midair, crashing through one of the wide front windows to the restaurant.

Glass shattered as Yi tumbled into the street, but she was unharmed, knowing to smash through the window with her feet before her, and to smash the glass outwards so it would proceed before her. She landed in a crouch on the ground, but did not stop for more than a second. Her eyes slashed back and forth, taking in the street even as she dismissed the Mizuho from before her vision. _Damn, my night vision has been weakened just when I need it_, she thought in haste. _Hurry, cross the street, and make the next set of rooftops._

"Thief!" Yi heard the cry from her right, and caught a glance of a man running down the street in her peripheral vision. He was clearly a samurai, likely the one assigned to the night watch in this part of town, and he was not alone.

Doors were coming open and people issued forth into the street. They were still confused, but Yi knew that would become anger in seconds.

She stood and ran across the street, pushing chakra into her feet and, not caring that others would see, leaping up to the rooftops on the other side of the street_. I must escape now, it doesn't matter if they realize I'm a ninja_, she tried to order her thoughts, but things were moving too fast now. She was in trouble, and she was loosing the focus she needed to act.

"Ninja!" Yi heard the samurai's voice from behind her. "It's a ninja, get everyone together! Don't let her escape!"

_They're organized_, Yi recognized, but was not surprised, _surely all towns have provisions for what to do if they discovered a ninja spy. Still, there's no way a few samurai can catch me_. She recognized as she dashed swiftly over the rooftops and headed for the edge of town.

Lights broke out in the town. Torches were lit and lanterns brought forward.

"Find her!" A cry rose from the street to Yi's right, and she saw many men running about. A few were samurai, but more were peasants carrying pitchforks or other weapons. _They're no threat._

Yi came to the end of the row, but there was another set of houses just across the street, not more than six or seven meters. _All right, focus now_, she told herself. _Gauge the distance, focus the chakra, and…Jump!_

The young ninja girl sailed clear across the road to land on her feet on the next roof, still running.

"I saw her!" A cry arose again. "She just jumped to the next street!"

Amid a jumble of shouts and outcries, chaos rampant in the darkness, Yi suddenly heard another sound, and suddenly she was terribly afraid.

Twang.

It was the sound of a bowstring being released.

Yi threw herself flat, and the arrow passed over her as she skidded along the roofing tiles.

"I have her!" A young voice shouted.

_There's only one street to go_, Yi realized, _and then I'm out of this town, but he'll shoot me as I jump, if he's good. I can't bet he'll miss. I have to fight._

Yi rolled over, and then kicked upwards, rising into the air while moving away from the archer. She looked and saw him, standing with another samurai, bow strung and ready.

As Yi saw the archer, so did he see her, and let his arrow fly.

Yi had anticipated this. Her hands slid through the seals with shocking swiftness, and then her right hand came forward palm outstretched. "Crashing Spray no Justu!"

The blast of water came from nowhere, and Yi felt it pull at her chakra brutally, using such a potent water jutsu with no source nearby was terribly hard, and her body screamed in anger as she did so.

"Scatter!" The samurai below called, as the blast swept down over the arrow and at the other samurai.

The men dodged aside, and the archer was already rolling upright for another shot.

The bearers of Mizuho are not so easily thwarted. Yi's hands curled their last two fingers down, and her thumbs bent inward. "Mizuho!" She screamed, letting the adrenaline have its voice at last.

Crashing spray struck earth, flying in all directions as when the flow of a waterfall strikes stone. All the force was gone and this blast could now harm no one.

Except there was no way to avoid that spray, and at Yi's command it was burning.

Men screamed, as pain and horror burst upon them with a livid red rawness, seemingly summoned from the hells. Even as Yi turned away and fled into the darkness of the outer ring of homes and the grasslands beyond the terror was taking them.

Samurai rolled in the dirt, trying to put out flames in ways they had all learned as children, but it didn't work, for the water would not leave their bodies that easily, clinging and burning into them. Houses caught fire as water washed over them, and loose lanterns and torches struck the vulnerable wood and grass structures.

The blaze lasted only thirty seconds before Yi, feeling the chakra drawing away from her, and already free into the black grasslands, let the fire die. In that short time, two men were already died, and four others crippled. One house would be completely destroyed, and another was severely damaged before it was finally extinguished. Yi, escaping freely into the wilderness, never knew this, but she had her own problems.

_I've been seen, and used my powers!_ It was shocking, but terribly true. _They know I'm a ninja. I'll be tracked. _Yi knew more of ninja structure than any other part of the outside world, and she knew ninja without affiliation were always targeted. Yi felt fear run through her as she wondered how clearly she had been seen. _How much did they see? How much do they know? Was Mizuho recognized?_ It was enough to keep her running for a long time, until her side burned and all her charka was exhausted. She collapsed in open grassland, miles from anything, with no idea where she was.

"What do I do now?" Yi asked herself. "I've made a terrible mistake." She blamed herself entirely, even though she had no way of expecting the samurai hidden in the restaurant. She took deep breaths, as she lay collapsed on the grass. "They'll send ninja after me, the grass ninja will be coming I'm sure." Yi tried to determine what she could do. For a long time she considered her situation and went through a million half-baked ideas before true reason returned to her. "I have to get away, far away." She recognized this as her only option. "The grass ninja can't go past their borders, so I have to go that way. It will take a while, but maybe I can stay ahead of them." That left another problem. "Which way do I go?"

The answer was simple when the clouds opened and reveal the stars. Yi had been taught to locate herself by the stars by one of her uncles; they said it was essential for a ninja to always know which way they had been traveling. "I've gone south," Yi muttered. "I guess I have to keep going south." She could not go west, the rain country lay in that direction, and the Mizain compound, and she no longer knew which path would carry her past it, her mind was blocked that way. _I would only get lost in the rain forest_, Yi realized, with a spike of sadness. North was impossible, since going that way would take her into the hands of her pursuers. To the east lay the Fire country, but there was also a great expanse of Grass country to cross if she went that way, she was closer to the southern border. _The country of wind lies to the southwest; I can go there_, Yi decided. With this resolution, the worst of her troubles seemed eased and she finally slept.


	10. Chapter 9 Eyeless Guardian

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property. 

**Author's Notes:** Well, another chapter, and no reviews on the last one, which is kind of disheartening. Anyway, this chapter is about the consequences of events in the last one, involving Shiro mostly, but it should make his purpose in this story a bit clearer. I realize this story perhaps moves a bit slower than many Naruto stories, and there hasn't been a lot of serious combat so far, but its coming, trust me, things will accelerate more and more as the two main characters move closer and closer together.

If you are reading this please do review, it really provides a lot of encouragement just to know.

Chapter 9 – Eyeless Guardian 

(three hours later)

It took two hours, fifty-three minutes and thirty seven seconds after Yi had used Mizuho for the grass ninja to arrive in the town. _Not a bad response time, but not that great either_, Shiro thought, gazing down with perfect vision from afar even in the dim light of predawn. It should have shocked him that he knew so exactly how much time had passed, but such things no longer mattered to him, it was simply a part of his existence, the same as the glittering sense within him telling Yi's location some distance to the south, or his ability to see in near darkness as if it were noon.

These things no longer mattered to Shiro, but he was worried nonetheless. Yi had made a mistake, this was clear enough to Shiro, who had watched it all happen. He had hidden in the darkness, watching, as he constantly watched his charge, an unseen presence observing from strange, impossible angles. There was no other special secret to his remaining unobserved, beyond his weird vision and black costume, but that was more than enough for now.

Yet Shiro knew he could not so idly observe now, he had recognized it the moment Yi revealed herself and her abilities. For that reason he had stayed in the town even as Yi fled, waiting for an opportunity. _There will be things to learn here_, Shiro had determined, _and likely something I can do_. So he was determined to watch carefully what happened now, as this grass ninja came to make an all-important investigation.

_The suspicions of Mizain Yuki have proven true_; Shiro noted well, _Yi was not able to conceal herself for long_. It had been only two weeks, and now an accident had happened, one revealing the power of Mizuho. This was a grave danger. Shiro was no more well educated regarding the outside world than Yi, indeed he had been abroad fewer times than she in his short life, but he held a perspective closer to these people than that of the Mizain. He, lacking a bloodline, saw the deadly power with the terrified eyes of those who lacked it, or at least he once had. There was no fear in Shiro now, it had utterly vanished from his range of emotions, but the memory was still present to guide him.

It was this guiding memory that had set Shiro to watch here, waiting for the grass ninja to arrive. He was determined to know what this summoned investigator would conclude. Shiro considered the Grass ninja likely to threaten Yi, and he must know what form that threat would take. So he sulked through the pre-dawn hours, watching silently from the shadows, preserved by the inhuman nature of his existence. His body had undergone changes, and he knew he was no longer truly alive. This had not shocked Shiro when he discovered it, but he had simply accepted his new life with a calm resignation. It hardly mattered if he no longer breathed, ate, or slept, his form was frozen in time, and his wounds did not heal. Indeed, Shiro was uncertain how much of a link he had with his body at all. Moving about he felt somehow superimposed over his flesh, as if his senses came from somewhere else, and his body simply carried out his actions like some kind of perfect puppet. Memory said this ought to have troubled him, but it had not caused him much concern, and he no longer dwelled upon it save as it aided him, as it did now.

The grass ninja was a tall, thin man, his legs held the power of a distance runner, and a rider, important traits among the ninja of this open realm. His striped green and brown outfit was obvious against the dirt of the village roads, but would fade away almost instantly in the grasslands beyond. However, Shiro studied more than simply this ninja's appearance. He watched the smoothness of his motion, his poise, and how his eyes moved, carefully assessing the strength of this ninja. _He is a guardian for this region, a mid-level ninja_, Shiro had reasoned, _and so he is a measure of the strength of the grass ninja overall._ So far Shiro did not think the grass ninja to be particularly strong.

The grass ninja stopped first at the restaurant, inspecting the scene where Yi had first revealed herself. He conferred with a samurai guide, and Shiro watched and listened to all that they did, unobserved.

"This is the place?" the grass ninja asked.

"Yes," the samurai answered, voice respectful, and a bit ashamed. "She burst through the window from this restaurant."

The grass ninja looked to the window, and the glass that had been scattered about, tracing the lines of motion in the debris. He said nothing, but nodded to himself.

_So he recognizes the correctness of Yi's move_, Shiro noted carefully. _This one has good awareness, unfortunate._

"Why did she raid the restaurant?" the ninja asked.

"It seems to steal food and money," the samurai replied. "That was all the owner said was taken."

"Food and money only?" the ninja raised an eyebrow. "Tell me, did she wear a forehead protector anywhere on her body you could see?"

The samurai stumbled for a moment. "No sir, but all those who got the best glimpse of her are dead or cannot speak from their wounds. And why would any ninja raiding us wear a forehead protector?"

"It is important evidence all the same," the ninja responded. "Well, did you see the color of her uniform then?"

"She wore no uniform, only peasant clothes," the samurai spat. "Dishonorable of a ninja."

"Heh, deception is part of the ninja way," the grass ninja chuckled for a moment, then his eyes narrowed. "Still, it is uncommon, peasant clothes are hardly appropriate for ninja work. It strengthens my suspicions that she is a rogue."

_That is a conclusion I would have preferred you had not made, grass ninja_. Shiro felt no anger as he once might, only a slight irritation, at best the echo of emotion.

"So she came in here, the ronin surprised her, and she killed him and fled through the window. This much I follow, but there are strange gaps here." The grass ninja looked into the restaurant's damaged room. "You said the samurai was burned to death, and there are indeed burn marks on the floor, but they are scattered, as if caused by sparks. A fire jutsu with enough power to kill so quickly should have destroyed this whole building." He turned to the samurai grimly. "So what happened?"

"She used a strange power, it is clearer at the other site," the samurai replied, a little unsteadily, worried the ninja might do something dangerous in his irritation.

"Then let's go there," he strode quickly in the direction indicated.

_You are well sighted, grass ninja_, Shiro decided as he moved from shadow to shadow, following them in silence across the roofs and eaves. _It may be to your detriment very soon._

It did not take long for the ninja and samurai to reach the ruined street where Mizuho had wrought fire and death. The ground was scourged by a black mark from the soil's torching, and ruined buildings stood aside the path of Yi's jutsu. The bodies had been removed, but it could still be seen where men had been when the blow struck from the marks in the ground. It was a brutal scene, and the samurai focused on the ruined houses, not the street he remembered from such a short time ago, where something he could not understand had claimed his comrades.

The grass ninja took one long look at the ground and buildings and his scowl turned truly fierce, his hands twitched once, and he fingered the burnt soil with a dark gaze. "This doesn't match," he spat. "The burn pattern does not match flame, it's like a wave came down from the roof, and splashed against the buildings, but if so why is everything burnt?" The grass ninja had seen jutsus that called flame from leaf ninja, and those that called water from rain ninja, but this matched nothing in his experience, and that both scared and angered him.

"Sir, if I could explain," the samurai began.

"You had best."

"Well," the man's voice was hesitant. "It was a wave, I saw that, she leapt up and sent a blast of water against our archer, poor boy, but as the water came down from above flames covered it somehow. All dodged the blast, but it splashed everywhere, and water covered the men, and the buildings, and the water burnt them somehow. I do not how it is possible, but I saw it. One man's arm was burning, and he tried to slap it out with his hand, but when he pulled his hand away both were burning. I swear, that fire spread madly, and water did not put it out, but only added to it until the ninja was gone. It was like the fires of the Hells had come on us, some demon magic."

"Water that burns you say?" the ninja looked at the samurai very carefully.

"Yes, the waters were flaming, terrible, terrible."

"A very strange power indeed," the grass ninja muttered. "I have never seen or heard of this, and it appears in the hands of a rogue ninja. Obviously this rogue is not a normal ninja. Which way did she escape?"

"South, sir."

"South, and she has been three hours on the run, too much territory for me to search myself." The ninja turned about. "I must report this at once, and organize a pursuit. Get me a horse, now!"

"Yes sir," the samurai was heartened by the ninja's proactive stance. He wanted vengeance for his lost comrades. So he ran in a hurry, he would get the ninja his horse.

_How unfortunate_, Shiro thought, watching. _But now there is an opportunity._

The ninja was alone, the people of the town had either not yet awakened, or were avoiding this street with care, for no one wished to see the devastation here. The town was small, and all had known those lost, the tragedy hurt every resident. So the ninja took a brief rest leaning against the wall of one of the un-burnt buildings, saving his energy for the long journey he knew would come. This was an important matter, a new power, one of great possibility, and the Grass must seize it quickly.

"I'm afraid your conclusions are all too correct, grass ninja," the calm voice came from an alley to the grass ninja's left.

The ninja spun about, crouching down and coming up in a low fighting stance, kunai in hand, ready to strike or defend as needed. He saw only a dark figure hiding in the shadows of the alley, barely visible. A ninja dressed all in black, he guessed immediately. "Who are you? Come out with your hands held above your head, palms open!" He demanded.

"Do you really expect me to accede to your request?" Shiro answered simply, looking straight at the grass ninja, seeing him clearly, and judging his possible moves.

"If not, then I will be forced to attack you!" the grass ninja replied decisively.

"I'm not anyone important," Shiro answered. "What's important is what you have determined. You have recognized the power of Mizuho for what it is. You are right that your superiors will indeed be interested in it. Unfortunately, I cannot allow them to know."

"What?" The ninja was attempting to get a clearer glance of his enemy, but as far as he could tell the other was so deep in the alley he should not be able to see him clearly either.

"Should the grass ninja learn of this power it will endanger the one who I must protect, so they cannot learn of it," Shiro's voice, with it's youthful quality and simple conversation manner, was deeply unnerving.

"You think killing me will prevent my leaders from learning of this?"

"No, that is inevitable now, but it will buy time, important time," Shiro replied easily, and without a single change in motion, drew his sword. The steel blade caught on the glimmer of predawn light clearly, and so the grass ninja knew his opponent held a sword. "Bad luck for you, to be the first to investigate, that is all. You will die now."

The grass ninja waited for his opponent to move, conscious that if he could buy enough time the samurai would return, he had no desire to face an unknown foe alone.

Shiro was in a slight predicament, determining how to kill this man. He could obliterate him if he used his shadow-souled abilities, but now was not the time for that, he would use those powers only when it was absolutely necessary to save Yi. Without them, however, he was nothing, a normal human, lacking chakra or any ninja capabilities. _The easiest way will be directly, sword against kunai, a single blow._ Shiro suspected he could win if he did so; the grass ninja was not fast.

The ninja sword rose to stab, and Shiro took a single step into the light, and then charged.

Faster than predicted, the grass ninja was on his feet, ready to counter, then leap back and attack with a jutsu, Shiro's opening was gone.

Then Shiro stepped forward enough to be revealed in the predawn light.

Grass ninja looked upon his enemy, seeking his intent in his eyes, and saw only black pits. His body quivered without his will, as his mind refused to believe, refused to accept this lightless, eyeless creature attacking him, and for an instant he blinked, as his mind tried to purge the impossible, unacceptable image.

In that moment Shiro ran him through.

_Intriguing, my nature provides me with a moment of hesitation from opponents. I will need to remember this_. Shiro cleaned his sword on the fallen grass ninja with two swift motions, and sheathed it again. Then he jumped up to the roof, and was off to the south, following the beacon inside him, the presence of Mizain Yi.

Some time has been purchased, Shiro decided, caring nothing that he had taken a life to buy that time, it did not mean anything to him any more, though he had never killed another before. _But it will not be much time._ _The samurai will report this soon, and other ninja will come. Yi, you are in great danger._ Yet he could do nothing but watch her from the shadows, and hope to guard her as best he might until the time came to fulfill his true purpose. Somehow he did not find this sad.


	11. Interlude 1 The World that Was

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.   
Author's Notes: I'm going pause a bit here from the main plotline, and bring in something more distant. This interlude chapter is the first of three or four that will leave Ise and Yi behind and tell something about the history of Mist and the world of Naruto as a whole. In particular I'm going to gradual illuminate, through the stories of Akai and Mizukage, the nature of the bloodline purges that were mentioned early in the show regarding Haku and Zabuza. Now, I have something of an axe to grind regarding certain aspects of the Naruto universe, so fair warning, but hey, I think an explanation is needed anyway. Besides, I'm including stuff about Saki, so that should be interesting. 

To reviewers: Thanks for the comments and I hope for more. I appreciate that my original characters are interesting. If people have questions about any of them, go ahead and ask.

Interlude 1 – The World that Was 

Silence has gathered in a small clearing, laden with fog, as all waits.

The sound of feet in motion broke out. Swift movement flowed, cutting up ground.

Another gait, off-tempo, eerie and irregular, then made itself known.

A singular moment passed, two sounds came together, then joined, a second instant has finished, a moment of decision.

A soft voice called.

"Death."

With swift force feet smashed the ground, propelling a body upward.

Silent reaction followed, and then a distinctive noise, the sharp noise of metal striking metal.

The soft voice spoke once more.

"Death."

Now a sound changed abruptly, skidding heard clearly, as movement stopped with unsteady haste.

There was a swift reaction beyond this, a move made to strike. "Water Element: Wave Crest Smash no Jutsu!"

Formed of chakra, the smashing crest of a wave descended to sweep down and level all before it, a steamrolling wall and also a barrier.

The wave crest met its target with great force, leveling a giant's blow upon the land it struck.

But nothing other than dirt and plant matter felt that force.

A grunt of confusion was heard audibly, with no small undercurrent of fear.

A third time the soft voice is heard.

"Death."

"Enough!" a far more potent voice roared. "This session is over, stand down Saki."

"Yes, Warlord," the soft voice belonged to a thirteen year old girl. It was a voice free of malice, but it held the word 'death' with a fearless familiarity that could not properly belong on anyone so young.

"You chuunins," Akai turned to the three lying sprawled on the ground in simulations of dead ninja. "That's all I need from you, but study your memories of this fight carefully, you could all do well to learn from it."

"Yes Warlord," they replied, and stood up and walked off. As they left the three muttered amongst themselves. "How does she move like that? It's unnatural…is she some kind of monster? Whatever she is, it isn't normal, genin aren't like that…"

Saki turned to watch the backs of the chuunin as they left. She said nothing, and her face revealed nothing else. One who did not know her would have thought nothing amiss, but Akai could see the disappointment in her eyes. _She doesn't want to be a freak_, Akai knew well by now. _Too bad Saki, there's no normal life for you_. Akai made no move to comfort the girl from the harsh remarks. _Let them fester in her, they will only drive her further on, make her more potent._ That was his plan. Beyond this, Akai knew, as Saki did, deny it though she might, that the words of the chuunin held nothing but the truth.

Looking at the battlefield only confirmed again the assessment of the Warlord's trained eye. He glanced at Saki for a moment. She was only a small, shorthaired girl, her body held an image of compact power, but she appeared in all other ways perfectly average. That is, she appeared so only until she made a move. Then she revealed what this battlefield, as all the other matches before it, had made perfectly clear to Akai. _This girl is not a human being, she is a killing machine made in human form_. The Warlord actually came close to feeling regret when he recalled that it was his task to shape her into the perfect weapon for Mist.

"What is the next task Warlord?" Saki asked, her voice simple and empty of emotion, as always.

Akai had long thought he was past the time when a young ninja could teach him anything, but that had ended the day he began training Saki. Then he had learned something important indeed, he learned that there were ninja alive who surpassed him in ruthlessness and mercilessness. _I may have sent the boy Ise off to become a heartless weapon or die in the attempt, but I don't think I could have created something like this. What do I do with this girl?_

"Warlord, do you have another task for me today?" Saki asked again when Akai paused.

To Akai it was uncanny, how empty Saki was. She never displayed even a glimmer of what could be described as enthusiasm, but neither did she ever show reluctance or regret. She simply did as she was told, like a machine. She never questioned why an instruction was given, simply whether or not it was feasible or acceptable for her. Her body had been altered from nearly the day she was born to create the changes in bone and muscle necessary to allow full expression of the Stomatoa style, something never done before. Akai knew that much had been a great success in Saki. She was already a master of the strange taijutsu art of the Stomatoa, the Mantis Shrimp family, the emulation of that most ferocious and potent of crustaceans. Inhuman motion, unbelievable strength and speed, and a set of movements that could not be countered save by memorization by the opponent, he had never seen a ninja this young with such strength. _She has been a genin only a few short weeks, but her taijutsu is already close to jounin level, and given its strange nature, she could defeat almost any jounin in the first encounter_. _Which is the only important one, after all._

Training Saki for tactics, strategy, or anything military was not proving to be a challenge for Akai. The girl's mind was quick, and though her perspective was unusual, she would work incessantly to understand principals and methods. Her defeat of three chuunin today, all of who were skilled, proved this. Yet this did not satisfy the Warlord. _She is progressing well in this way; her skills will grow with incredible speed if I simply continue to have her fight skilled ninja_. He already insured this, he made certain she fought both he himself and one of the other seven (now five) swordsmen of Mist everyday, as they were the only ones who could challenge her without using potentially lethal jutsus. In a year or so he expected to schedule her first match with Mizukage. _But there is more for her to know, she is not complete like this._

So this day, Akai decided to do something different. _Empty as you are Saki, perhaps there is something in you to build upon. I will try to find that thing, or provide it if it does not exist. The best swords do not simply cut flawlessly, they hunger to be wielded, to be set loose._

"I wonder, Saki," Akai began. "If there is a question you wish to ask me?"

"A question Warlord?" Saki thought for a moment. "I have some questions about my technique…"

"No," Akai cut her off. "Not a question like that, a question about something other than combat. Whatever it is, ask, and I will attempt to answer it."

Saki thought for a moment, and Akai looking at her, could not resist a predatory smile. Saki was one of the few people who was not intimidated by that all-consuming visage splitting Akai's fearsome dark face, though she had to look far up to see it. _She is not without some curiosity at least, good._

"I have been taught our history, Warlord, but there is something I do not understand," Saki spoke slowly, her voice slightly different than Akai had ever heard before. _Is this a facet of her that lies buried beneath the carapace of the mantis shrimp girl?_ He wondered, curious and concerned.

"Our instructors teach that twenty years ago Mizukage won the title, but that those who ruled Mist would not step down as they ought, and so Mizukage led a war that toppled them and took his rightful place," Saki paused for a moment, and then hastily continued. "We are also told that this war was when the bloodline purges began, because those who opposed Mizukage bore the powers of bloodlines, but I don't understand why this happened. Our teachers have tried to explain it to us better, but I do not believe anyone really understands. Perhaps you know the true answer?" There was only curiosity in Saki's voice, not pleading, but Akai could sense that his answer would indeed mean something.

"A dark topic," The Warlord told her, saying precisely what he thought. "Dark, but suitable. I do not know if there is any true answer behind those times, but I do know my answer, since I lived through them," Akai breathed deeply. "Indeed I share much of the responsibility for what happened along with Mizukage, with him, and with the dead." Akai looked closely at Saki. "I will not tell you the story of the war and purges now, since that is not what you asked. You asked why it happened, and to understand that you must understand the world as it was before that war, before the purges. Perhaps that is what you have not been taught, and I can explain that much to you." Akai gestured to the ground around them. "This will take some time, sit."

Saki sat down, but not as a regular person would. She held her knees bent steeply, her legs close in to her body, leaning forward for balance. It seemed unnatural to Akai, but he knew that this position was comfortable to Saki, even as a normal sitting position made her feel awkward and vulnerable.

"There is something you must understand Saki," Akai began. "Twenty years ago the world of the ninja was a very different place. Today few true bloodline limits exist, perhaps two or three per village, and most of those are in decline. Our Hoshigake bloodline has not had a new child born in the past five years, and many others are the same in the other ninja countries. Twenty years ago," here Akai's voice grew dark and angry. "Bloodlines ruled the ninja world. Of the five great shinobi countries only the Leaf had a Kage who did not command the power of bloodline ability, and that country was still heavily influenced by the power of the Hyuuga and Uchiha clans. In the other countries it was far worse, most jounin possessed bloodlines, they ruled committees, and they dictated everything. The bloodlines were extraordinarily potent; they controlled more than just the ninja. They intimidated the rulers and the people as well. I remember well that it was bloodline imbued leaders who determined who would be sent on missions, and they would send those without bloodlines on the deadly ones and take the safest for themselves, regardless of ability. It was folly, and it was weakening the countries, which is why the Leaf, where this was less prevalent for so long, was such a strong country for years afterward."

"This was the world we lived in, I recall wars on the islands with the Lightning when I was as young as you Saki, and there our bloodlines and their bloodlines would order subordinate ninja into battle against each other as if we were their slaves. Then they would pick off the wounded and exhausted later on. It was not the way ninja are meant to fight. To me it means nothing if the individual ninja choose to be slovenly and lazy, but when they are rewarded for it, and others die when they could have far better served their country, things must be changed."

Akai knew that another student would have asked a question by this point, but not Saki. She watched carefully, her eyes shifting constantly, holding danger, but also digesting his words with care. So Akai had little choice but to keep going.

"I became a jounin at seventeen, having been a chuunin for six years. By that time almost all those who had been my comrades as genin and chuunin had died in battle, wasted by their superiors. Have you ever wondered why three of the Seven Swordsmen are older than Mizukage or me? This is why; few could survive to reach any strength, no matter their potential. It was a sickening world, and there seemed no way to change it, for though the bloodlines were in many ways weak enough remained strong that it seemed they could not be beaten. For no matter how strong you might become in the skills of this country, a bloodline bearer could know all those and have more as well. Someone trained as you are Saki might have hoped to match them, but no such person existed then."

"So you know, yes, it would have been possible for us who had no bloodline to defeat those who bore them, if we all stood together, the numbers alone, and the weakness of many, would dictate it, but that would have been rebellion. Never would I have stood for rebellion, and many others likewise. Despise the bloodlines, yes, I did that, every day I was a jounin I hated them, and for many reasons, but I would not have rebelled against the Mizukage, for though a bloodline limit, he was rightly the Mizukage then, and a ninja who is not loyal to his proper master is not a ninja at all. So it seemed hopeless, for there was no way to topple the bloodline leaders of the countries short of rebellion, and until one fell no rebellion would ever succeed."

"It was twenty years ago when our 6th Mizukage, who was then the jounin Hiramitsu Osamu, found a way to change the world. However, that is a different part of history," Akai concluded. "Do you have a greater understanding now?"

"Yes Warlord," Saki replied, her voice emotionless again, leaving Akai with no clue at all what the tale might have meant to her. _I will need to find out soon enough_, the Warlord knew, _I must pry the secrets out from behind the mantis shrimp mask, before no one can anymore_. The Warlord found that thought was both encouraging and discouraging at the same time.


	12. Chapter 10 Verdant Gateway

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.   
Author's Notes: Well, I hoped the interlude proved interesting; with no reviews it's hard to tell. Anyway, I have plans for a few more as events proceed, but I'll get back to the main story for now, picking up Ise's part of the tale again. There's still some ways to go before the two main characters finally meet, but it will begin to take shape now. I should note that following this chapter the story is going to get rather darker, and I may have to upgrade the rating to R due to the way some of the fights go.   
Chapter 10 – Verdant Gateway 

(three weeks later)

The sun rose at Ise's back, slowly brightening the autumn day. As it did the shark-blooded ninja crossed through scrub forest into the Grass Country. It was a gradual transition, the forest had been thinning for some time, and soon, Ise knew, it would be gone completely. The open plains and steppes of Grass awaited him, and there his mission would truly begin. He was anxious to proceed.

For almost two weeks Ise had been unfortunately delayed, his wound had penetrated deeper than he thought, and he had been unable to walk appropriately. So instead of proceeding onward he chose to stop in a small village until he recovered. The delay had been truly aggravating, but it had given Ise some time to reflect, to learn, and to plan. So when he left the village he was prepared for this mission's true trials, as he had not been before.

Ise had come to realize, lying on his stomach to rest his injured back in the small village, what had happened to him during the fight with the Sound rogues. _The shark within me spoke, and I heard it._ It was not a complete surprise; Ise had heard that dark voice before, in battle, and during the matches of the chuunin exam. The voice was simple and powerful, with only one goal; hunt down your enemy and consume them. _The shark is unfeeling and merciless, it knows only that its hunger must be met._ His father had taught this to Ise when he was very young. _The shark is the perfect predator, concerned only with satisfying its hunger. This is what gives you great power. This lineage of blood, but it also has dangers, for a man is not a shark_. Ise's father might have told him that, but it was his uncle Kisame who taught him the truth of it.

_And the shark has spoken to me._ Ise could find no happiness in the knowledge. He had heard the voice from within him before, the other half of his nature speaking to him. Always before it had been only feelings, urges, emotions, this had been different. He had known what the shark would do precisely, and without hesitation Ise had acted upon that knowledge. _It was through that power I survived. Without it, I would be dead._

The sun had been setting when Ise finally came to that conclusion. His blood had gone cold, and he could not remember ever feeling such terror as he had at that moment. The urge to scream denial had been strong; to push the thoughts away, and only one other had countered it. _I cannot fail! The Warlord depends upon me._ Ise knew this, the mission to find Mizuho was his and his alone, and there would be no aid. _I will need the shark's strength to succeed. There is no other way._ As the thoughts formed in Ise's mind, bathed in the redness of the sunset, Ise had a glimpse into the Warlord's mind, into the greater scheme that encompassed his own struggle as but a minor part. _Was I sent forth in part to learn this thing?_ Dark the worming thought was, but Ise turned it over in his mind again and again, for he could not escape it. As he did, more things became clear, slowly and painfully, but as he swam further through the dark portions of his feelings he could not help but see them.

_As I am now I will never be more than a mediocre ninja._ History clearly spoke to this. Four years as a chuunin and Ise had been sent on few important missions, only two of A rank, and those as part of a large force. He had never been approached by the ANBU as many had, or been offered to study under a master ninja. There was presently no chance of his becoming a jounin. _It never mattered to me before, being a chuunin, doing my part, was enough_. Ise had believed that for a long time, even at the beginning of this mission, had simply thought he had little ambition and so his strength was not great. As darkness fell the illusion shattered. _That was never the reason I was so average. No, I was hiding from the shark. It is my strength, and without it my skills are unimpressive._ He saw clearly, staring at nothing, what he had denied for so long, the heritage he had thrown away in disgust the day his brother Naki died on Kisame's Sameheda. _To become powerful, enough to complete this task, I must accept the shark in me. _It was crystal clear now, and crystal sharp was the terror such truth engendered. _If I do, how can I not be a monster?_

For days Ise could find no answer to this problem the fight with the Sound had brought forth. Every day he felt the shark in him whisper stronger, and he could glimpse new possibilities for battle, for killing, coming to him, new things he had been told of, but long thought beyond his reach. Now Ise knew they were within his grasp, but he would have to embrace the killing voice in order to do so. _If I do that I lose myself. Is there no way to be strong as the shark and not become an animal? There must be!_ He ran desperately through his memory, through the history of his family, and even what he knew of true ocean sharks. He found nothing, only memories of terror and betrayal, of ninja swallowed up by the shark's voice, living only for the scent of blood and the red rage of killing.

Still Ise sought the answer, he was sure there must be one, or the bloodline could never have come to pass in the first place. There must be a way to grasp the shark's power and still be human.

It was in the same memory of battle that had sparked this dark struggle for equilibrium where Ise found the answer.

The Leaf boy, Aburame Shino.

Bug-wielding, and infested with creatures in a way no human was, Shino had been obviously isolated from many parts of his humanity, so much so that the shark's nose did not consider him human anymore. Yet he was clearly a ninja, restrained and in control, able to adapt to his orders and serve his country well. In this Ise saw the answer, or so he thought. _Perhaps I cannot stay human and heed this voice, but I can still remain a ninja. That is enough for now._ It was not, truly, but it was somewhere to begin. Ise was content to settle for that much. _The rest will come in time. With this I can complete my task at least._

Resolved, and healthy once more, Ise crossed through the last vestiges of Sound country, empty land, Waterfall country, and then into Grass country. As he traveled the land grew drier, and the season grew colder. This brought some urgency to Ise's stride, for he knew he could not wander the land blindly in winter_. I must find a lead in Grass country, and before the season changes, or I will waste the whole year. Still, there is enough time._

Not far past the border stood a small town on the crest of a hill. A road traveled through it, and Ise decided that here stood as good a place as any to begin. He would need information, and the town would provide it. Yet he could not walk here as a Mist ninja and expect to learn what he needed. So he altered the henge mask he wore, removing the trappings of the ninja, kunai holster, forehead protector, flak jacket, and shuriken pouch. There was no way to hide his spear, but in some ways this was a benefit. _Now I appear as an itinerant soldier, or perhaps a ronin,_ Ise thought. _It will serve well enough_. The disguise was somewhat vulnerable, as a soldier was more suspicious than a farmer, but Ise had gained one key skill already in this mission. He knew how to wear henge so no one would suspect. Wearing the jutsu constantly for weeks on end gave him knowledge of it to match a skilled jounin. It would take a talented ninja indeed to detect the shark-blooded ninja beneath the mask now.

The new disguise had a different feel to it, but in some ways Ise felt more comfortable appearing as a soldier than as another ninja. _Now I am hiding my face for a purpose, to carry out a mission_, this was essential and spurred no regrets. _Before I was hiding simply because my blood marks me as tainted. _

Walking into the small hilltop town Ise quickly noticed the differences between the Grass country and the other nations he had visited. The buildings here were solid, not paper thin as in many countries, and constructed of old wood and crossed bone, towns that were old and had not moved in long ages. _The earth is stable here_, Ise could tell, _and wind and storm becomes the enemy_. He also noted the small size of the town, and how few of the buildings were full. The streets held few passerby, and activity was little, even in this, the heart of the day. It matched what Ise had been told of this land of plains. _The people here are tied not to towns, but to the herds marching across the land. This may be helpful, for the townspeople will know what is happening in a wide range. _Certainly he could determine they would know more than the people of Mist, who often knew nothing of what happened beyond their small shore-side fishing villages.

Seeing a small restaurant on the main street Ise took the chance to try and test his ability to gather information. It was not much of a restaurant, but given the small size of the town it was likely a central location. Passing through the door Ise felt ensconced in gloom, for the stout construction blocked much light, and few lamps were burning within. Yet in that dimness Ise saw luck had blessed him, for among the sparse costumers at grimy hide-stretched tables sat a pair of samurai, sharing the midday meal and muttering to each other.

Swiftly Ise sat perhaps halfway across the open space from the samurai, and ordered his own meal. He was surprised to find it containing bread and meat, with no rice, but after the first satisfactory bite forgot about it, for there were more important matters. He focused his hearing upon the two samurai, following their conversation as they slowly ate. He found, to his surprise, that he seemed to hear more than before, his ear picking up sharp undercurrents and punctuations to the speech with clarity he'd never before had. It surprised Ise, until he found himself contemplating how easy it would be to destroy everyone in the room. _So this is something of the shark too_, he realized. He started to quash the feeling, but then stopped, determined to do things differently than he always had before. _I must not take the dead end path. I can consider these things idly if I must; I simply have to refrain from acting upon them. _That done, Ise focused in two different places, considering how he would slash apart the bar if it came to blows, and intently digesting the samurai's words.

"Weather's been chill lately, there's been cold winds from the north," one samurai, a gruff man, but young and strong, with straight black hair, told the other.

"It's not so bad," the other, a much older man, with cruel scars and pockmarks on his face and hands, replied. "I've seen many worse," he shrugged. "Tough winter coming on, maybe bring the herds in early, but we'll get by, always have."

"So you say," The young samurai responded guardedly. "You seen plenty of tough winters, and if you say we'll get by then I believe it," he paused for a moment, and spoke lower. Listening to him Ise could almost hear the hints of fear seep into his tone. "Still, we could do without a bad winter now, there's too much trouble. It worries me."

"You young ones always think there's too much trouble," the old samurai choked down a piece of meet. "You're letting your ears wander, so long as this town's fine nothing else concerns us. Let the people who take care of trouble deal with it."

"Trouble could come to this town you know, if what I hear is true," the samurai's voice was angry now. "Whatever's been happening the damn ninja sure haven't dealt with it. All the herders say something bad's happening in the south, and nobody seems to be stopping it. Plus we've got all those rumblings from the mountains up north, some skirmish happened there not to long ago. You say it's going to be a bad winter, and if anyone'd try something during the winter it'd be those mountain ninja. We're pretty close to them here, I don't like it."

"You shouldn't worry," the old samurai waved his hand. "No one's going to attack us in winter, not in a bad winter, even the mountain ninja can't deal with our snow drifts. The problems in the south will quite down soon. Besides, even if somebody does try something, all we have to do is protect the herders and make sure there's still livestock come spring. A tough winter'll bring out brigands, true, but they'll fight half-starved and be easy to beat. Relax, when snowfall comes I'll teach you to fight in the drifts." The old samurai ended the conversation here. "Now, eat your food, we've got to go patrol later on."

Ise listened to this all very carefully, intrigued. The news about the winter to come discouraged him, but other things interested him. Any trouble might lure out the Mizuho from hiding, and give him the clue he needed. _Perhaps the youth knows something, he might be worth a further question._ It was a risk, but Ise considered, and then decided to take it. _This is a small town, and I shall be gone soon, I doubt it will be remarked._

The mist ninja stood slowly, returning his finished dish to the master. As he came back he passed by the two samurai, stopped, and turned toward them. "Pardon," he spoke deferentially, addressing the old samurai first. "I could not help hear a few of your words. I'm looking for work," Ise gestured toward his spear, still sitting back at his table, finding his soldier guise useful already. "Perhaps you could point me in the right direction."

"We don't need to tell foreigners…" the young samurai began, but stopped as the old samurai grunted slightly.

"Looking for trouble's not our job," he told his companion, "But I can't see that we shouldn't help things by pointing a soldier in the right way. Besides," He looked Ise up and down. "This lad's a strong one, I'd rather not face him as a brigand come winter if he doesn't find work." Ise grimaced a little at the comment, but he could tell the old man was going to tell him something. "There's surely plenty of work if you need it boy, either south or north, you can take your pick. The Stone are rumbling again, as the mountains always do, and they always need help against brigands up there in the winter, too many caves you see. If you don't like mountains well, there's some trouble in the south it seems we samurai can't stop and the lousy ninja haven't managed to catch. Probably more dangerous, but warmer," The samurai ran his hand across the bottom of his chin, back and forth slowly. "You're new to the plains I expect, so let me tell you this much. If you can't find a place to take you through the winter then head south soon. Nothing can move on the plains once the snow comes down hard, and you'll freeze."

"My thanks," Ise told them both, knowing he dared not ask more without seeming suspicious. "I shall keep your advice in mind." With that he took his leave.

The conversation weighed heavily on Ise's mind as he walked further west, to the other end of the town. He now he some options, where before he had none, it was encouraging. _Two sources of trouble, well, that's useful_. Ise knew he had no chance of finding the Mizain in ordinary circumstances, someone trying to search such a vast area, without phenomenal luck, would not find ninja who had hid completely for twenty years. _But trouble, that offers possibilities, a single mistake, and rumors will fly. So, two ways, which way to go, south or north?_ It took only a moment for Ise to decide. _South, trouble with the Stone is routine I'm sure, like between Mist and Lightning. The Mizain will not be found there. Whatever is happening to the south seems far more interesting. Besides_, Ise thought to himself. _It will be a little warmer to the south at least._

Concentrating on his thoughts, Ise did not look up until he had passed through the western gate of the town. There a brisk wind caught his face, brushing through the scaled skin beneath his henge mask. Surprised, he jerked his head up. What he saw left him speechless.

It was only a small hill, perhaps a few hundred feet above the surrounding land, but the land beyond was almost perfectly flat, and Ise could see for miles and miles. Great plains of green stretched beyond, an ocean of grass, rippling with massive waves in the wind, till the land seemed a fluid and living thing, something far more than simple plants. Here and there a scattered tree, ragged poles in the openness stood its solitary sentinel's duty, flowing back and forth to the tempo of the wind. Wide rivers rippled through the landscape, flowing slow but strong, ancient and ever-shifting paths carving their way to the far distant sea. Among all this majestic expanse could be seen the occasional flock of sheep or cattle, moving slowly across the green plane.

All his life Ise had found the land a confining place, closed, grubby, and boring compared to the ocean. He knew it was the shark-blood in him, but he had nevertheless been constantly drawn to the sea, considering the earth to be lacking, never able to match the gracious swells and glimmering vistas of water. Now, here, he had finally found a place on land he could understand and appreciate. Slowly, letting the breeze sweep through his tall frame, Ise smiled. _This mission will be far more pleasant than I believed._ He looked out, shark eyes focusing on a great distance away, following one of those slow rivers down its course, traveling with it, seeing in his mind the many miles his feet would soon traverse.

A glimmer of brown atop a hill caught his eye. _Another town like this one_, Ise guessed, _a good place to go_. He marked it, and its proximity to a river; he would travel there then. Spirits lifted far above anything they had been since landing ashore in Sound country, Ise walked onward.

Days would pass, as the shark-blooded mist ninja traveled through the country of grass, in his constant trek. Never slow and never fast, he traveled south and east, deep into the heart of the plains nation. He stopped only briefly, to eat, to sleep, and to take in the news in the towns, always an Ashigaru heading to the troubled south. He was not the only such itinerant traveled the way. Rumors swirled in the Grass country, carried on the loose lips of drunken samurai, holding the gossip of merchants, herders, and others, but most importantly holding bits and pieces of words mistakenly let loose by the most important of sources, the ninja. Time after time Ise would hear the same stories, but he would hear enough difference to gradually piece together which rumors were true and which were false. As the days passed Ise, walking ever by the riverbank, would come to understand something of the happenings in southern grass country.

_There is a ninja there, at least one, rogue_. It was easy enough for Ise to learn this. Too many times he heard stories of men wounded in ways no samurai could create, enough to recognize the mark of jutsu upon them. Furthermore, the ninja had failed to catch the source of these strange incidents, and only a ninja could hide from other ninja for long. He also heard enough of water jutsus in use to believe that perhaps the rogue ninja were from the nearby country of rain, though Ise was far from certain of this. As he accumulated stories he recognized more and more the area involved, a zone near the very south of grass country, and seemingly moving closer to the edge slowly. _It is a strange circumstance_, Ise thought. _They cannot catch this ninja, but the ninja seems to be flushed out fairly easily. I wonder why?_ It was a disparity of skill that confused him. He did not hurry, but he made steady time towards the area.

_I am getting closer_, Ise thought after a week and a half of travel, as he neared the southern grass country. The river he walked ever next to had grown larger, preparing to rush off the plans in a long, steady plunge to the sea soon enough, and the temperature had stayed fairly constant, as winter was coming a bit later here. He stopped that day in a town by the riverside early in the morning.

That morning luck was with the shark-blooded ninja. He heard an angry argument between two ronin in the streets, one that drew forth the whole town.

"If you go south you'll die!" one man shouted at the other.

"Heh, so you say, but why's it all so dangerous?" the other man, younger, but taller and stronger, barked back.

"Listen to me you fool! I'm trying to save your life!"

"So this mysterious bandit blew up a well," the ronin waved his hand in dismissal. "Big deal. The herders'll squirm, but if I were a bandit I'd do it all the time."

"You've haven't listened to my words, fool," the other ronin spat back. "It's not that they blew up the well, but how it happened. Everything burned! There were herder's huts some fifty meters from that well, and when the water came up they burned, and so did the men in them! An explosion that powerful could blast apart this whole town! Don't go south, any of you!" He shouted to all the gathered ronin and soldiers. "You'll only die! Leave the dying to the damn ninja!"

"Bah, you're seeing things old man, there's no proof."

"No proof? Hah!" The older ronin threw his hat in the dusty street. "It happened not two days ago, directly southeast. I was there dammit! I heard the explosion one moment, and the next everything was burning. I quit the service then and there, and if you're wise you won't go that way either."

"You're just a coward old man, you've said it yourself." With that dismissal from the younger ronin the crowd nodded, and mostly dispersed.

Ise, however, did not. He waited for the crowd to leave, and the ronin to slump down disgusted by the side of a house, but then he approached the man. He stood next to him from above, not looking at him, but carefully making certain no one else was near enough to hear what he said. "You said the huts burned when the well exploded, correct?" he asked softly, but with a cutting edge beneath.

"I swear it, fifty meters, just as far as the water blasted out. Everything burning, I still don't believe it," he was softly disgusted, at himself and everyone else.

"Do you remember, perhaps," Ise questioned carefully. "Did front sides of the huts burn most?"

"No, it wasn't like that," the ronin replied glumly. "They were burning everywhere, one of the herders, I saw him try to jump out the back, but it didn't save him, flames were everywhere."

"And this was only two days ago?" Ise asked after a long moment's pause.

"Not even, it happened the night before last, I'm still trying to get the vision out of my head."

"A pity that," Ise replied for formalities sake. "I appreciate your warning." With that he walked off, taking care to blend slowly into the crowd, another soldier among many here.

Though Ise's questions had surely seemed strange to the old man, there had been something very important he was searching for in the answers. _The flames as far as the water traveled, and on all sides, not only the front as if from a blast._ To most people it would have meant nothing beyond an odd occurrence, but Ise held knowledge others did not. _It was not an explosion, the water caused the fires_, Ise was certain of it, he would have bet his life on the knowledge. He smiled deeply, and beneath his henge mask it was the predatory smile of a shark that senses his prey. _Water causing fires can have only one source. Mizuho._

He headed southeast with a much-quickened tread.


	13. Chapter 11 River Shark

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.   
Author's Notes: Again, no reviews bother. Anyway, I'm going to leave the story PG-13 here, and see what happens. I'm not really sure that's appropriate, given the way in which someone dies here, but I hesitate to deem the story R (yet). Regardless, there's some high action here, if anyone's been waiting on it. I should also note that its getting relatively close to a key point here, only a few chapters more until Ise and Yi finally meet each other (you knew it was coming), and there will be a lot of action compressed into coming chapters and you'll get to see what these characters are really capable of doing.   
Chapter 11 – River Shark 

(three days later)

Ise had lost the trail. For three days he had followed rumor, sign, and instinct to track the motion of a strange occurrence on the edge of grass country, heeding the whispered remarks of samurai toward what they called only 'the demon girl.' In three days Ise had learned many things about his quarry, and they only confirmed his initial assessment. _There is a Mizain lose here, the signs of Mizuho are unmistakable_. Ise had seen it for himself, the burnt well where water blasted forth in flames, and the brutal scars it left on the land. His eyes had opened to the Warlord's plan then, when he came to understand some piece of how the Mizuho truly functioned, to grasp its maddening powers. From this he reaffirmed his commitment to succeed, and now he had further motive, for the Grass ninja were searching for this demon girl as well.

Though the intelligence of the ninja was closed to him and he had to rely on his own skills to gather data here, Ise was able to grasp far more of the picture than any of the many warriors aiding the grass ninja in this situation. He knew what to look for, and so it was possible to glean the truth from scattered rumors. Yet in assembling the image Ise was puzzled. _The Mizain has been roving here in the south for weeks, and the Grass ninja have been tracking; yet they have not caught her._ While it was quite clear the Grass had not devoted their best to this task Ise could tell from the number of ninja he saw openly that there were more than enough here to capture one rogue, especially one whose movements were so erratic. _But always they cannot catch her. I don't get it. Again and again they've closed in, and always the net breaks down somewhere, and the Mizain escapes._ It made Ise wonder how truly skilled the Mizain here was, and what her purpose was. _She seems to wander randomly, yet Mizukage wrote that the family hides itself most carefully, and surely they would never travel about like this_. Something was very wrong with the situation, Ise could tell, but he had no idea of the specifics, and no choices. _I must find this Mizain and bring her back to Mist; this is likely my best chance._

To complete his mission Ise knew he must catch the Mizain, and he had to do so before the Grass ninja did. He was far from confident of this. _They have failed so many times, with many pursuers on their home ground._ _How can I succeed?_ It was disheartening, and Ise continued to follow with little hope, aware that there were grass ninja between him and his quarry.

And now he had lost the trail.

Here, in the sliver of dry grassland between desert and plain, supposedly a part of Rain country, but in truth part of no village and patrolled by no ninja, Ise had run out of clues. The samurai and soldiers he relied on for news had faded at the border, and the tracks of the last patrol had faded a few miles back. A mist ninja, born of the sea, Ise's tracking skills overland were not up to the task of following the grass ninja before him south. _Why south anyway?_ Ise wondered somewhat confused. _There is only the desert of Wind Country that way, why should a ninja who uses water techniques head that direction?_ The only explanation he could come up with required the Grass ninja to force the Mizain's decision, but they had not managed it before, she had wandered erratically around the southwest portion of the country for weeks. He could not divine an answer. Still, no choice remained except to proceed.

Lost now Ise could only follow the slow wandering of the river south. This slow snake in the grasslands slowly gathered speed as the land about it became more solid. It was headed southwest, sweeping the edge of fire country and cutting through the badland valleys separating the desert and the forests of the Leaf. This was not Ise's destination, but he had no other guide, and in a foreign land he had no intention of leaving the river until he must.

Wind swept over the grasslands behind Ise as he walked, spear in hand, bringing cold air out of the north, the first twinges of winter speaking out now. It was not a hollow warning, here in this scrubland. The sun beat down a warm tempo when it shone, but heat faded all too quickly for Ise's comfort when it vanished at night or behind the clouds. He recalled his training and knew the desert to come, if he must go that way, would only be worse. The temperature was milder around the river, another reason Ise intended to track with it so long as remained possible.

In the stiff northern breeze the scrubby grasses moved in fits and starts, not waves, a confusing and complex pattern difficult to follow with the eye, and for Ise, focusing elsewhere on his long search, lacking familiarity with this place, many things could be missed at the edges of his vision.

He had only a second's warning then, when the wind shifted direction for a moment. It brought nothing anyone would normally remark save a chill lash to the cheek and the scent of loose and dry soil, but Ise felt the slightest touch of something else in the wind. He could not place it at first, but turned his head into the wind, feeling a tingling at the back of his mouth, a memory that spoke to him, and gave him a vital clue.

Blood.

It was faint, far, far beneath a human's notice, a few dried drops on the skin from some hours old cut or something similarly minor, a wound not even deep enough to draw the notice of its owner.

Ise's shark-blooded senses recognized it.

The recognition of that scent struck through Ise's mind as a crashing wave. He knew no more than the shark voice telling him of blood, the scent of human, and close. Past that point ingrained training took over, and Ise dropped with brutal suddenness to the ground, crouching and scanning all before him.

At first he saw nothing, and he could not pinpoint the scent at all. Fingers tightened around the haft of his spear, and Ise tried to calm his mind. _My nose doesn't lie_, he told himself repeatedly_, the shark can always sense blood, and it never fails_. The scent of blood carried with it a dark and patient urge, and Ise hunted for the scent with both near panic and anticipation. Hostility was near, but he had seen it, and there would be a moment to strike soon enough.

A strong gust slashed over the scrubland, and the bushes bent down as to be one with the ground and avoid it, and it was then that Ise saw. Some of those plants did not move quite as they should, and once the initial mask was gone the brown and green forms were revealed. Grass ninja, four of them. His eyes hunted carefully, identifying the platoon of ninja spread wide before him. _What do I do now?_ Ise wondered. He had no desire for battle, not against four opponents, and the grass ninja were neither his enemies nor rogues like the sound ninja, but this was not his land and he was an interloper. _They can kill me and Mist cannot complain, but I must not strike first._ Ise decided this over the objections of his emotions and the instinct that told him to indeed strike now, while his enemies had not yet decided. _No!_ He told himself. _If it comes to a fight I will fight, but I must obey the rules of the ninja!_ It was a bitter struggle to keep those words locked in his mind. Ise wanted to cry at that, and also to scream.

Then the grass ninja stood up.

Ise copied them immediately, taking in the four as he did so. They were three men and one woman, all in brown and green, none with weapons or tools beyond the standard ninja gear. Three would be similar to Ise in age, in the later teens, and one was older, well into his twenties. It was not heartening. _At least a chuunin and three skilled genin, perhaps all chuunin and an ANBU member_. Ise hoped desperately for the former, but even so it would not be an easy fight. _Grass ninja are weaker than ninja of the five great countries, or so they say, but these ones do not look weak to me_. He held his spear carefully at his side, ready to bring it up in an instant.

"So, you managed to see us," The older grass ninja, obviously the leader since he spoke first, began. His voice was clipped, his words as devoid of expression as he could make them. Business only. "I'm impressed, wanderer, you're no mere soldier, why don't you reveal your true self, ninja." He slashed the last word knife-like, clearly certain it was the truth.

Ise shrugged, maintaining his calm outwardly, even as his insides tossed and surged, ready for anything but tense discussion. It was a skill all ninja must master, but Ise was more than adept at it, having grown up with his uncle in the household. He considered his options. Defying the grass ninja almost certainly meant battle. Ise suspected there was no way to avoid fighting regardless, but he wanted a chance to get some information at least. He decided to take a minor risk.

Slowly, so as to assure the grass ninja he was not readying an attack, Ise raised his hands and formed a seal to dispel his henge disguise. He did that, but as the illusionary construct vanished in a flash of dispersed chakra and stirred up dust Ise moved his hand again, and used henge once more. When the dust cleared the soldier image was gone, but instead of his true form Ise appeared as the unremarkable mist ninja he had been traveling through sound. It was a calculated risk, to simply switch disguises instead of revealing his true nature, but Ise thought it would work. A skilled genjutsu specialist could see through the illusion, of course, but the odds were unlikely that one of these four was so skilled. Most ninja would have been unable to do this simply because the second disguise would not fit so well, and their movements would betray them, but Ise had worn this mask for weeks, and he would not be easily spotted out.

The grass ninja gave Ise's new image a dark look. "A Mist ninja hmm…" the older one remarked. "Not quite what I expected."

"What did you expect?" Ise asked casually.

"Someone from a bit closer to home perhaps," the older ninja remarked guardedly, being careful with his words. "But you never can tell. Now," the grass ninja's eyes narrowed. "What are you doing here Mist ninja? You're far from home and winter's coming on, did you get lost on your way back from Rain?" The biter sarcasm lacing that last remark told Ise many things more than the words.

"I am afraid not," Ise answered. "I have never been to Hidden Rain."

"Of course not," the grass ninja shrugged. "It would have been nicer that way though. So what are you doing here? Answer the question this time."

"I cannot tell you my mission, I am on the business of Hidden Mist," Ise replied, keeping his voice even, speaking the truth, though it would certainly not satisfy the grass ninja.

"Well, as much as it's nice to know you're dedicated I'm pretty sure I know your mission already," he scowled at Ise. "There's only one reason for a foreign ninja to be here, in this no man's land, heading south. Deny it if you want, but you're after the same thing we are, the little hell bitch who's been stirring up trouble."

"I can't answer your assumption," Ise told him. "But if I was, what would it matter?"

"You might be surprised," the grass ninja said, with a telling amount of reluctance and sadness. "You're a mist ninja, from far away, this is different than if you were from Rain or the Leaf or Sand." He sighed slowly. "You can't go on from here, this girl is ours now, she has the blood of many grass ninja and more samurai on her hands. We're going to capture her and that is the end of the matter. Turn around now and go home, mist ninja, there's nothing for you do here except die. If you turn now and go back north I'll let you go freely. Mist isn't our enemy and there's no need for anyone to die today."

_How honest,_ Ise thought slowly, sadly. _This is foolish_. He felt only the slightest twinge of desire to turn back, but even as it surfaced twin forces surged in his mind to bury it. _I cannot fail!_ He recalled his promise to the Warlord, his mission more valuable than his own life, or the lives of these grass ninja. That was Ise's voice. _Kill them! They underestimate me!_ That was the shark's voice. Ise did not bother to silence either one, but let them take him. He hated himself as he did so, two parts of him warring together as his hand moved down to his shuriken pouch and grasped a small globe, but he needed both desires now, the burning urge to save mist, and the cold, swift fury to strike down those who thought they could oppose him. _I will have to be a shark to survive._

The smoke bomb flew from Ise's hand to detonate against the ground. "I cannot turn back!" He called to the grass ninja even as he broke out from under the cover of the smoke at a dead run, surging toward the river.

Kunai passed through Ise's form quickly, too many for his twirling spear to turn aside them all, piercing him with many wounds, but his body collapsed into nothing save water then.

"Water clone! Damn!" the older ninja shouted commands. "He's gone to the river!" He pointed to a swiftly running figure beyond them. "Split up, take him from both sides before he gets there."

The grass ninja moved quickly over the barren scrubland, but they had lost precious seconds, and the distance was too short while Ise's legs were too long.

The shark-blooded ninja ran out over the water, supporting himself with chakra, as the grass ninja hurled shuriken behind him. Seeing those spinning razors coming at him Ise dove gracefully into the river's flow.

The grass ninja were at the edge in moments. Shuriken cut into the water where Ise had dived, but they could find nothing else.

"Search for bubbles, he must be here somewhere, and keep count, he'll be up in moments, even mist ninja can only hold their breath for so long," the grass leader ordered.

"There aren't any bubbles!" one of the young ninja called in surprise.

"What?" the leader scanned the river, searching, but indeed there were no bubbles. He looked for a breathing tube also, but saw nothing. _How, he dove into the middle of the river, where's his breath?_ A sickening feeling began to develop in his stomach. "Scatter!" He shouted swiftly.

It was almost in time.

There was no way for the grass ninja to anticipate Ise's move, not knowing his true nature. He dove beneath the rivers flow into the cold water, but the cold did not penetrate his shark-tinged skin, and he did not exhale as he did, breathing instead through the gill slits cut into his face, oxygen flowing into his blood as if he was a fish. In this fashion he swim swiftly beneath the obscuring cover of the running water toward the edge, and saw the grass ninja there. _The best move first,_ Ise's thoughts crystallized and his hands moved.

The grass ninja had barely begun to dodge as they heard Ise's voice ring clear in the air. "Water Element: Towering Surge no Jutsu!"

The water burst forth in a vertical blast, towering up from the river to smash across the bank, slamming the grass ninja with a massive cylindrical force. The four ninja tried to block the blast, but were cast apart.

The force of the technique was not enough to kill, only to bruise and slam an enemy to the ground. That was enough. To lie prone in a battle between ninja was as good as dead.

Ise burst free from the water, his chakra power leap carrying him in a low arc above the riverbank. He spun slowly in the air, cast against the sky as a shark leaping above the waves. Ise's left hand pulled on his long spear and it came apart into many segments.

Two of the young grass ninja lay together on the riverbank. They managed to force themselves to their knees, and the one in front raised a kunai to block any attack.

Ise's spear whipped past them suddenly, touching neither, bypassing the defense they had raised in favor of moving. In his mind Ise heard the voice of the Warlord, telling him with words something the voice of the shark's thoughts had already indicated. _Trickery is essential in battles of the ninja, never attack where your opponent can defend. Let them waste their energy._

"Water razors!" Ise called the move, and channeled his chakra down the segments of his spear. Water lay lodged in the segments, caught in thin cups where the pieces fit together. At Ise's command that water spun out from those points, stretching into spinning blades of water between each segment, buzzsaws of water all down the reach of the whip-like spear.

With the spear beside them the two grass ninja could do nothing but scream as those razors of water sliced into vulnerable flesh, tearing without mercy and a cruel rasp far more brutal than any sword cut.

Ise struck the ground and rolled, pulling his spear back into its solid form, flipping backwards and up. Two opponents had been eliminated, but two remained.

They stood before Ise, weapons in hand, just beyond the range for a good throw.

"Damn you Mist bastard…" the older one began, and then stopped. His eyes widened as he saw Ise's true appearance for the first time. Looking into those empty, inhuman eyes set into a blue skinned face slashed by gills and topped with gray hair, the grass ninja's face went from confusion to horror to wrath. "What the hell are you?"

"A ninja," Ise answered, his voice empty of human emotions for a moment, not caring anymore. "A ninja of the Hoshigake clan of Mist."

"Bloodline…" the remaining youth gasped. "You should be dead!"

"The hypocrisy of Mist," the older ninja spat. "To purge some bloodlines but not all, to keep the sharks around. I'll kill you now." He flicked his left hand almost imperceptibly.

With surprising speed the young ninja shot forward, pulling and throwing kunai after kunai in a great stream.

Ise spun his spear, blocking each strike in turn, until the boy came in range.

Steel struck wood, and a small chip appeared in Ise's spear as he blocked. He flexed his arms and shoved the youth back, then spun about and smashed the butt of his spear into the ninja's arm.

The crack was loud and the other ninja gasped, his weapon work insufficient for fighting a weapon with such greater reach and an opponent of superior strength. Ise moved to press his advantage, but the grass ninja fell back, he had taken a blow, but accomplished what he need.

"Fire element: streams of running flame no jutsu!" The older ninja slammed his hands against the ground with fingers spread, and from each finger a line of flame cut forward across the ground, spreading into tendrils of fire that dashed toward Ise, burning everything in their path.

_Not good…_Ise thought, even as the young ninja spun around and moved his own hands through seals.

"Grass element: Cage of roots no jutsu!"

Ise dodged away as the roots of the scraggly shrubs lurched free of the ground and extended toward him grasping claws of woody growth. He tried to move away, but though the roots did not close over him they blocked the way behind him with a tangled thicket of vegetation he could not pass through. He was trapped even as fire raced toward him.

The older ninja, not willing to allow him an opportunity, threw kunai at Ise that he had to block.

Fire racing toward him Ise found himself without a plan. _I can't get through the fire to stop that ninja! It will track me however I try to go around._

He rolled to the left, striking kunai aside and hurling several shuriken at the young ninja, buying himself a single second to make a decision. _If I stay I will die, I have to attack, but how? The flames will have me soon._

_Pain is meaningless._ The shark's voice whispered to him, and from that much Ise realized a plan. "Water Clone no Jutsu!" He formed the seal and five water clones appeared around him.

"Now!" Ise charged.

The clones ran before him, straight at the grass ninja, straight through the lines of flame chewing their way across the scrubland.

The first clone reached that fire and steam materialized all about them. It was consumed in seconds, water burned away, and the fire was not put out, but for a moment the fire's heat was stolen away, and another clone moved into the gap after it.

The pattern repeated twice more, fire consuming a clone and the other clones and Ise following, approaching closer and closer, until the other grass ninja saw the plan fully and reacted.

"It won't work monster!" He raised his hands. "Fire element: Swift Fire Missile!" He spat an arrow of flame from his mouth, streaking in with tremendous speed, and it pierced the first clone and the one behind it, blasting them away into nothing. "Burn!"

Ise's shield was gone, but he dashed into that fire nonetheless, slamming his spear into the ground and pole-vaulting over the next attack by the same jutsu, then rolling into the flames to come up within striking distance of the grass ninja. His spear slid forward with his arms, and even as the flames burned his skin, darkening the shark's blue and charring, he held steady and completed the strike.

The grass ninja went down.

Ise jumped forward, out of the flames that continued to burn all around, running for the river.

At the riverbank he heard a voice and turned, but not in time.

"Grass element: Chords of reeds no jutsu!"

The reeds growing by the riverbank lashed about, grabbing Ise's arms and legs, tightening hideously, squeezing with great pain so he could not move. They wrapped about his torso and the top of his head, and as they were snaking down to his neck the final grass ninja appeared in front of him.

"Damn you!" the ninja slammed his fist into Ise's side, eliciting a gasp. "Damn you! Damn you! Damn you!" The words were punctuated with punches even as the boy held to the seal with his right hand, the reeds squeezing ever tighter. Tears streamed down the boy's face. "I'll kill you! I'll kill you!" He shouted, even though he already was killing Ise. "Monster!"

_Ninja are cold, controlled, and flawless, always remember that anger can motivate you, but if it takes you over, you're dead. _It was one of Akai's first warnings.

The fist came in one final time, and the grass ninja paused for a moment, pulling his arm back just the shortest distance to take a cruel jab. His head was only inches from Ise's.

Reeds curled around Ise's mouth, restricting his movement, and the plant chords about his hands prevented him from doing any jutsus, but a shark can always bite.

Ise clenched his mouth, and then spat out sharp teeth, cutting away the reeds that bound his chin, affording him a tiny bit of leverage. At that moment he jerked his whole body down, bringing his head forward against the springy pull of the reeds, the give that even chakra strengthened plant matter must have.

The sharp shark's teeth filling Ise's mouth connected with the soft, all-too human flesh of the grass ninja's throat. All he needed to do was clench down, the reeds, jerking him backwards as they sprang the other way, did the rest. Flesh tore, and blood poured out of the grass ninja's neck. Shock took the ninja's eyes, and he raised his hands desperately to his neck, trying to stop the bleeding, to heal what had been so callously ripped away.

A moment passed and the grass ninja's eyes went gray, and he fell to the ground. The reeds that held Ise fell away even as he did so.

Ise saw the light leave those eyes, and felt his ability to move restored. Reflexively he threw himself backward, eyes closed, tossing his body into the river. He opened his mouth as wide as he could, exposing it to that cold flow, refusing to open his eyes, trying to deny, trying not to see what he had done, not wanting to believe it. _Monster, they said, monster._ Ise's eyes were closed, but he could taste the salty, metallic taste of blood everywhere in his mouth, and he could not deny the part of him that seethed with victory at it. _I am a monster, to kill someone like that. Horrible, horrible, better to die. Better to die than kill someone like that! What am I! _Ise screamed in the water, letting the river carry his words away unheard even as it carried his body swiftly downstream without his guidance, or his caring. He repeated those words until they were raw in his mind, and then suddenly stopped.

_No, it is not better to die_. Ise knew suddenly, he knew it with absolute, perfect clarity. Death means failure, and failure is intolerable. _My life, my sins, everything I do now, it is all subordinate to the mission._ The Warlord knew who he was sending, what he was sending. _He knew what I might cause should I fight, he has seen Kisame, the same blood flows in my veins. I am not allowed to die, not unless the mission is finished._

There beneath the waves Ise considered something. _What am I?_ It was the question he had never gotten a real answer to. Not from his parents, not from his uncle, not from the leaders of Mist, not from his companions, not from anyone. Now he held the answer in his hands, the grass ninja and the shark inside him had given it to him. _I am a blend of shark and man trapped in a form between them both._ _I am a monster_. It was a cold conclusion; one that took all the hope and happiness within Ise and wrapped them beneath a layer of cold revulsion. He could not deny it; he would carry the taste of the grass ninja's blood in him for the rest of his days, as a scent he would not forget, for he did not forget blood. _I am a monster, but I cannot die_, it was confusing to Ise_. What do I do?_

Then he remembered something, someone. _I am not the only monster. It was the same answer he had found before, the one he had seen in the leaf ninja, the boy Shino. There are many ninja who lack something of true humanity, Shino was part insect, just as I am part shark, but we all still serve._ Ise considered this, even as he chose to stop himself against the current_. Is that the key? That we serve? Ninja do not lead, they serve only, serve their leaders, serve the daimyo, serve the good of the country, and ultimately the good of this whole troubled world. That does not make us good. Sometimes the only way to bring forth the right path is to strike forth the evil and bury it in your own soul. That is the ninja, the willingness to take the shadow inside._ Such were the words of Mizukage. Ise remembered them, for they were taught to every ninja when he inducted them into the academy. The Mizukage must know the answer to this; Ise knew the history just as well as any ninja. If anyone had found that answer it was the Mizukage.

_Can I continue to exist, even as a monster, so long as I serve as a ninja?_ Ise did not know if it was the truth, but it was his only hope now. Denying his nature would accomplish nothing now, and more, it would only result in his death. _A normal man cannot complete this mission. That is why the Grass keep failing, perhaps a monstrous ninja can._

His decision made, Ise swam up to the surface, conscious that he must hold to this course and find the answers at the end of the mission, not at the bottom of the riverbed.

The sun was falling below the sky as Ise surfaced, but the land was lit as bright as midday. "By the sea…" Ise gasped.

All about him to the east of the river the scrubland was in flames. "It is the flames of battle," Ise muttered aloud, recognizing how this had happened. The jutsu used by the grass ninja had set the shrubs aflame, and in this grassland, without rain for many days, the fire had spread rapidly. "The way to the east is blocked, I could not turn back now even if I wanted to." Ise knew now that even as he had made his choice beneath the river, the land had made the choice for him. He could only head toward the country of sand, and the Mizain ahead of him. The pursuit was not over, Ise knew there would be more grass ninja in front of him he must still catch, and beyond that the desert, if the chase should go so far.

_I must hurry._ Ise knew. The burns he received were nothing now, the long stay beneath the river had all but purged them from his skin, and he was bound by nothing.

_Let me be right._ Ise prayed as he turned away from the river to the southwest.


	14. Chapter 12 Fire Without Water

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.   
Author's Notes: Ah, reviews, how nice, it gives me something to say in these little segments. I'll address the questions here, but first, the next chapter. This chapter gets back to Yi again, and we've finally made it to the desert. 

Now thanks to those reviewers, and here's some responses:

Meggido: About the mantis shrimp bit. Yes, Saki was in storm chains, but she's not the only important from that story, Akai was also in it, and I had plans for a Mizuho wielding kunoichi as well, so I've kept almost all the elements I liked most of that story for this one. Regardless, yes, I do like the mantis shrimp bit, frankly I think they're some of the world's coolest animals, and I try to put arthropods into fiction, because they are underrepresented there. Saki's role in this is small, but I hope it's enjoyable.

EvilP: Hmm…I suppose Yi's development is a bit weak at this point, but in my defense, she's only been in the viewpoint for three chapters. She has more coming, though I would not that Yi hasn't really had a chance to deal with her issues yet, she's still learning about them and watching her life unravel. Don't worry though; she will have to face things eventually. As for the use of jutsus, well, I've tried to put in some physical combat (Ise has killed most of his enemies by, well, stabbing them) and use the jutsus in at least a creative way. Most of the 'trickery' comes form others facing abilities, either Mizuho or Ise's phenomenal sensory capabilities, that they aren't prepared for. They'll be more chance for a complex plan when it's my characters actually on the offensive. I'm afraid original series cast appearances will be minimal, Shino's already appeared once, and I promise he'll be back, and of course Kisame has a part to play in this, but beyond that I don't expect anyone else to so up. This is partly because I don't want to kill any of the actual cast, and that has a good chance of happening depending on the type of encounter.

Chapter 12 – Fire Without Water 

(the next day)

Winter was not long away from the land in these latter days of the fall, and the winds from the north brought naught but cold air southward, bearing the promise of snows to come. Yet all that meant nothing here, in the heat of the day, as the sun beat mercilessly down through clear skies where Yi crossed the very edge of the scrubland.

Her walk was slow and measured; conserving strength, as she knew would be necessary for the trek south. Her clothes were torn and damaged, but they remained serviceable, and though slashes and marks covered her body, she was for the present without damaging wounds. Her weapons were fastened securely to her improvised belt, and she carried a great deal of water along with food and money in her pack. _I am ready now,_ Yi told herself as she crested the hill to see nothing but the seemingly endless expanse of barren dunes beyond_. I can cross the desert. I can, because I must._

There was no other choice now, at the edge of the desert. The border could be crossed, or Yi was lost, captive of the grass ninja who followed her even now. It had come to the decision, made weeks ago, to leave them behind.

In truth, Yi had meant to leave grass country some time ago, but ninja had pursued her, circled her, and blocked her escape. They had come close to cornering her several times, harrowing passages that blurred in Yi's memory, until she could not truly recall the events of the past days, lost in a whirlwind of fighting, fleeing, and burning retaliation. _Somehow, I made it to the border._ Yi was very thankful to be alive here, and provisioned for the crossing. _I have been very lucky._ She could think of no other explanation for her all but miraculous evasion of her would-be captors.

Luck or not, Yi knew that whatever had carried her this far had run out. She had fought and struggled, and learned much of fighting as a ninja, but she was outnumbered at least eight to one by those who followed her. _My powers are formidable_, Yi knew, _but they have their own skills, and some are ANBU_. It had taken some time, but the Grass had finally sent a team of the elite operatives to support the other assembled ninja and samurai tracking Yi. By only the barest of margins had she escaped them, and now only one path remained, the barren desert. _They have herded me here. _It was blatantly obvious. _They think I can't cross the desert._ Yi shook her head. "I will cross the desert." She mustered her resolve. "Once I cross it, they can't follow me anymore." Such was the thread holding her efforts together.

So Yi checked her equipment one final time, and then stepped forward into the land most unwelcome to a Mizain, the barren and waterless desert of the Country of Wind.

Two days into the desert, through brutal heat and cold, across an all but trackless wasteland barren before the eye. It tired Yi just to look out into that empty brown land after a while. She was following one of the old dune roads, having recognized early that crossing the open desert would mean death. It was a brutal place; the sun beat down all day long, baking the land with hot and angry winds, only adding to the torment. At night the sun was gone, but this was no help, for the temperature plunged and Yi was left shivering in the hateful cold, trying to keep warm in the all but worthless tattered peasant's clothing she wore.

There was nothing for Yi to do but struggle on, there was no way back, and she could only proceed forward, hoping she would soon find a settlement in this barren desert. "There should be a town soon, or something, this road cannot run forever," Yi whispered the words out loud for focus, speaking through parched lips she opened only the barest of margins, not wanting to lose additional water. Every step forward brought out a steady drumbeat of anger and frustration with the desert, making her madder and madder, a steady, slow rhythm to punctuate Yi's thoughts and provide her something to think about in this empty, eye-blurring realm. "Soon, I will find respite," Yi told herself those words constantly. "Soon…have they given up yet?"

That question would dictate Yi's existence here in the desert, for she must reach a town, or some other settlement to be sure the Grass ninja had gone. _A settlement will have sand ninja, and the grass ninja cannot go against them._ Yi reminded herself of her father's teachings. _It is forbidden to trespass. But why have they come so far? Where are the sand ninja?_ Yi could not know that the ninja of sand, weakened in their attack on the leaf during the summer, could not patrol the full borders of their realm, so the grass ninja could chase her far beyond the border.

"I just have to keep going," Yi told herself for perhaps the hundredth time that day. She looked out ahead from the top of a dune, staring as far as she could across the heat-blurred landscape. "Perhaps to those mountains in the distance, or are they hills?" Yi couldn't decide. The landscape here was unfamiliar. "Whatever they are, the road goes that way." She continued south.

The day wore on, a fading fall day under the heat of the desert sun, blurring the hours together. Yi stopped at the best intervals she could judge, holding to long training in estimated time, carefully eating bits of food and water, just enough to keep her strength steady. At one such stop she looked south again, trying to glimpse the hills at the edge of her vision, to judge progress.

"What…" Yi saw something strange, and squinted against the setting sun in her path, looking at those distant hills again. "It seems as it they have come closer," Yi muttered, and now she was confused. "Could I have made a mistake?" She wondered aloud. "I guess I'll have to get a better look." She continued on her road.

Any trained desert dweller would not have done as Yi did, would have seen that specter on the horizon and felt the sharp twinges of wind gusting in the air, and would have known to turn aside, or to seek shelter. The thing the jungle-raised Mizain girl was steadily approaching was not something a ninja could challenge, but a greater danger of the desert than mere heat and lack of water.

Yi did not notice until the wind grew greatly in strength, whipping her long red-blue hair out behind her and picking up the sand from the dunes, stirring it about in gusts of wind. She looked to the southwest now and the sun had fallen below what she had mistakenly deemed to be hills. "Oh gods…" Yi gasped. It was a thing she had heard of only in stories, a moving wall of wind and dust and sand blasting across the landscape with massive force. She had thought it a series of hills for far too long, and now stood squarely in the path of the most destructive of desert phenomena.

Sandstorm.

"What do I do now?" Yi asked with resignation. She had no idea what to do to avoid a sandstorm, or endure its passage. It was obvious even to one with no desert knowledge that she could not just stand there, but she knew nothing beyond that.

However, Yi found herself provided with an answer.

"You can come with us quietly," a solid voice spoke from behind her.

Yi whipped around instantly, her mind racing as she saw eight forms in green and brown standing ready there. Grass ninja, they stood out in their plains uniforms against the desert, but they had still snuck up on her, and four of those grass ninja wore the ceramic face masks of the ANBU, hiding their appearance behind the rendition of an animal's gaze.

One of the ANBU stood in front, a sword strapped to his back, and wearing combat armor in spite of the incredible heat it must absorb in the desert. He was obviously very strong and skilled from the way he stood absolutely motionless with the wind and sand pulling at him. He spoke with a simple but strong voice, a veteran's voice. "I repeat. You can come with us without a struggle. The chase is over girl, and you can't escape now."

"Why should I come with you?" Yi shot back, her retort was weak and hasty, but her words were sharp. Yet, it was hardly a ninja's remark.

"Do not ask foolish question-" the ANBU began.

"Foolish?" Yi cut him off in anger. "You're on foreign ground, I'm not your servant, and I don't see any reason why I should come with you at all. Maybe you can offer one?" Though her sarcasm was strong, it failed to find any bite against the stoic ANBU.

"A reason?" he did not move as he spoke. "You are responsible for the deaths of over twenty samurai and seven ninja from grass country, and many more wounded. Beside you are…"

"I didn't kill that many people!" Yi shouted suddenly. "You're lying!" She could recall those she had seen Mizuho consume, there had been many samurai, yes, but she had only seen two ninja burn, not seven.

"I am not lying," the ANBU replied, still deadpan. "Perhaps more died of wounds than you believe, or perhaps your control of your powers in not so skilled as you suppose." His steady voice was beginning to wear at Yi's already ragged emotions, and she was losing her focus, unsure of what to do now. "Regardless, you are a rogue ninja, and we are going to bring you back to grass country, where we shall examine your powers and determine your punishment."

"I'm not an animal to be experimented on!" Yi shouted.

"You are a rogue ninja, lower than an animal," the ANBU snarled. "We could kill you now and be in full accord with the law."

"Kill me now eh?" Yi's anger boiled over, and she lost control finally, the desert had rubbed her raw, and so she could not hold back her endless frustration, the frustration, anger, and dissatisfaction that had been gnawing away at her since the moment her father banished her. "Try it!" She screamed.

As Yi screamed she rolled forward through the sand, pulling a canteen from her belt. A quick turn of the wrist splashed the cap open, and she swung her right hand wide, releasing a stream of water into the air. Grabbing it with her left hand Yi channeled chakra, and the stream of water condensed into itself, pulling into a long, fluid stream. "Water Whip no jutsu!" Yi lashed the weapon forward.

"Scatter!" the ANBU called.

The other grass ninja, not caught unawares, scattered and pulled their own weapons, prepared to fight.

"Mizuho!" Yi cried, and whirled the whip about. Fire streaked down that whip of water like a living thing, snaking over it until all was burning. Water flew out from the whip's edges as it did so, sending drops of flaming liquid all about Yi.

The grass ninja could evade the whip easily enough, but that wild and unpredictable stream of droplets was very dangerous. Had this been their first encounter the grass ninja might have been caught and burned, but they knew something of Mizuho now.

"Bramble wall no jutsu!" one of the ANBU called out the words, and a wall of brambles sprang up in front of the grass ninja. Droplets of water impacted on those woody vines and thorns, but the ninja behind them were unharmed.

A pair of kunai flew in at Yi from the left, and though she twisted and flicked her burning whip around to knock them aside, she knew they had been nothing more than a distraction, and her situation was dire. Anger fled from her then, as the impulse the ANBU had kindled was not sustained, the desert had given her anger, but it had robbed her of sustenance and strength, and her emotions drained away quickly. _I can't win this…_ Yi realized that truth immediately. The ANBU had dodged her attack, and she was surrounded_. I have to get free!_

It was not a plan, only an impulse, but Yi hurled her whip at one side of the wall, letting the burning water break it apart before her as she charged in behind it, flying through flames of Mizuho that would not harm her. Kunai flashed behind her, but the grass ninja had not expected the move.

The bramble wall had formed a circled blocking both groups of ninja from each other, but now the circle was broken, and four of the grass ninja stood facing Yi.

Knowing the odds were bad the Mizain girl wanted only to run, to run as she had before, never mind that it proved these grass ninja right, she could not fight so many. Yi broke the circle, planning to run as far as she could, but she found her path was blocked.

It was not the grass ninja that blocked her away. It was the sandstorm. That wall of wind and sand stood only yards away now; there was nowhere to run where it would not slam into her. Yi could see that the grass ninja could shelter behind their plant jutsus, surviving the storm in relative safety, but no such techniques were available to her.

Yi hesitated for but a moment.

"Roots of the Earth no Jutsu!" The sand all about Yi sprang up, forming into roots as wide as a strong man's leg, wrapping about her legs and arms, holding her fast. She felt her muscles clench gasp beneath the phenomenal strength of that technique, and knew it could hold a ninja far stronger than she.

"Now we have you," the ANBU leader said from behind Yi, for she still faced the sandstorm. "It would have been better if you had come quietly. I'm afraid now you will have to answer for fighting us as well. Your water powers are cunning, but of little use in the desert."

"Will you kill me?" Yi hissed, struggling against her bonds, searching for a way to free herself.

"Were it my choice I would," the ANBU answered. "But I am commanded to take you alive. Still, one of the ninja you killed was my brother. I swear you'll wish you were dead by the time you reach Grass village."

Yi struggled, but found herself held fast as the ANBU approached.

In the shadows from behind the crest of the next dune, a cold hand grasped a sword.

"No," Yi muttered, and again. "No…I won't be captured." Deep inside she refused it, her freedom was all she had now, and these ninja had come to take it from her. _I can't be captured! I must get free!_ Yet the bonds of sand held her fast. _If only I had water, I could burn them off._ She stretched and struggled but could not reach her canteens. Yi struggled so hard her lips pulled back as she strained and her tongue was exposed to the dry desert air. With a sudden sense of coolness she realized that there was water in her grasp.

The ANBU was approaching closely, mindful of possible tricks, when Yi spat out on the sand covering her left hand. Held together by nothing but bonds of chakra, it fell away from the flame like naught but dust when Yi compelled it to flare high with Mizuho.

"What!" the ANBU jumped back in astonishment. "Impossible!" He said, for Yi's hands had been bound, she could not have formed the seals for any techniques.

Her hand suddenly free Yi grabbed at another canteen, spilling the water all down her body, letting it ignite as she did so. As her waist and right leg soaked for a moment, and with whirling sand flying around her, a flare of burning power blasted the sand free. Yi turned to face the eight ninja with flames flaring about her from the water soaking her legs, forms a red haze before her face. As the wind picked up her flaming hair and the last of the light flashed through the sandstorm to catch the blue highlights, she took on the terrifying countenance of a demon.

It bought her a moment.

In that moment the grass ninja realized it was still eight on one and they had barely begun to fight, while Yi recognized that she could still not win. She had only one choice, and seeing them grab their weapons or begin hand seals, she made it.

Yi's hands flashed through seals, and her right arm came forward, palm extended. "Crashing Spray no Jutsu!"

The blast of water came from nowhere but the sand about Yi's feet, surging forward from nothing across desert sand who had not felt liquid's touch in months. Reflexively, it was not just water, but flame, splashing and surging about to streak over the ground.

It was an unexpected technique, but the grass ninja were not fools, they dodged wide and far, and kept running and leaping as the surge continued, avoiding the blast unhurt, even though it took them some distance from Yi.

The chakra ripped out from Yi's body like a knife to fuel that surge, and the moment the water came free of her hand her body was wracked with a spasm and she pitched forward in the dirt. "The pain…" she gasped through clenched teeth as her chakra was used up to fuel such a powerful water technique in this waterless realm. She clenched her teeth hard enough to bring back focus, knowing she had bought only a moment's respite. "I must…flee!"

Yi stood, turned, and threw herself in the only direction that promised even the faint possibility of escape.

She ran into the swirling blast of the sandstorm.

In the shadows, a hand released a blade.

The grass ninja were back to the site in moments.

"She went into the sandstorm," one confirmed for the ANBU leader. "Do we pursue?"

"No," The leader answered. "She can't survive that, and even if she somehow does, she used up two canteens in the fight, we'll find her exhausted body tomorrow, if she's still alive. Now, make a circle of brambles to ward off the sand."

The howling of the wind rose over everything as those words were spoken.


	15. Chapter 13 Sand Sea

Author's Notes: Okay, new chapter, we'll leave Yi in the sandstorm for a moment and switch back to Ise briefly. This chapter is a bit subdued, but the next chapter is extremely dark, and I believe I really will have to upgrade to R at that point, so consider yourselves forewarned about that. 

Anyway thanks to the reviewers, and I'll answer a question:

Meggido: About the Mizuho, your question got me to thinking about how the power really works. Since water actually can't 'burn' in a physical sense (the combustion process requires carbon) it's hard to say how it works. However, assuming the Mizuho derives its heat from some sort of reaction within water, and not just applying heat to it, which is how I believe the power should work, then yes, the water does eventually get used up. However, water has a very high heat capacity, so there's a lot of energy in even a small amount of water (for example, if all the heat energy it took to take a room temperature cup of water to boil away was applied to your body at once you'd be in real trouble), and it would depend on the intensity of the effect. Just creating tiny flames to provide light like Yi did during the infiltration isn't going to use up the water at all quickly, while causing ten-foot high burn-you-to-death flames would quickly use up a small water source.

Chapter 13 – Sand Sea 

(concurrently)

The sun set in the west slowly here in the flat lands of the desert, but without the red glory it had held in the plains. Instead there was only a harsh blurring vision at the edge of the horizon, as the last bits of heat leaked away as the sun faded. With the sun gone light and heat faded fast, sucked away by the vacant landscape, returning to realms better able to shelter them. Soon freezing cold would grip a land that had been scorching but hours before.

"I hate this," Ise muttered as he stood up in the lengthening shadows of a spur of granite. He was a creature of the sea, where temperature was a constant thing, and even in the depths of winter it rarely fell to such great chills as this fall night in the desert. The desert was the shark-blooded ninja's antithesis, a place where he did not belong. Yet Ise's chase had taken him here, to the expanse of sand, and there was nothing to be done now but endure.

It was a painful process, surviving the desert. Ise's body was not built for this. He was tolerant of cold, not made to endure heat, and there were other weaknesses. Though he walked with cloth wrapped carefully over all parts of his face besides the eyes, Ise still suffered from the scraping, painful abrasion of sand caught in his gills. It felt foul, to have that happen, but there was nothing he could do. He had wrapped his gill slits in bandages within hours of entering the desert, but they remained raw and pained. _I must have water before they will heal_, he knew. Yet Ise had no illusions that it would be soon. Not until his pursuit was finished.

_Am I gaining on them?_ Ise wondered. He had little way to tell, as the moving sand obscured tracks well with the shifting winds, and he could do little more than follow the road south, assuming the Mizain and her grass pursuers had gone that way as well. They journeyed during the day, enduring the heat of the sun, and shivering at night, while Ise had taken the opposite course, avoiding the heat of the sun and traveling during the freezing nights, when the wind was low and the sky held a brutal clarity that was awe-inspiring to one born under the clouded skies of Mist's island village. He was tolerant of cold, his skin did not chafe in its embrace, protected as it was by scales, and his blood flooded freely even at low temperatures. Ise knew that even if not the best choice for other men, traveling this way was the best choice for him.

But there was no way to measure his progress. Only one thing was certain, the chase continued, that much Ise knew, for the grass ninja had not turned their course, the road continued south, and none had come back against him. _How far do they plan to go? _He wondered, for it all seemed so impossible. _The Sand are indeed weak, to allow foreigners to penetrate so far into this desert where all the advantages belong to them. A foreign party on the seas of Mist would have long since been destroyed. Perhaps our strategies are different?_ It was a question Ise could not answer, but he could find no reason to allow enemy ninja to roam freely through one's territory, so he was forced to conclude the Sand ninja were indeed weak almost beyond measure. This was both good and bad for his pursuit. _There will be no sand ninja to interfere, but then I must deal with the grass ninja by myself somehow_. That was a problem Ise constantly forced out of his mind. He would deal with it when the moment came; there were no other options.

The shark-blooded ninja marched slowly through the sand under the starlit sky, looking forward, but watching everywhere. He moved quickly, daring much in this open land, for he must make time against his captors. The night aided him in some ways, he did not need to stop so often in the cold as a person moving under the hot sun would be forced to, and his long months of traveling on this mission had given him a skill to cover great distances. His endurance was strong, shark-fortified, Ise was confident that his quarry lay only perhaps a day ahead now, and he would catch them within two nights if all continued. In the shadows of his mind Ise suspected the Mizain girl would be a captive of the grass ninja by then, but he refused to make any plans until he knew for certain of the situation. _My skills are sufficient to only so much._

In the desert night the winds were quiet, a few intermittent gusts to bring the occasional whisper of chill air and little more. Ise had learned to be aware of those winds, for air carried many things, and in this place where the sand robbed the eye of sensitivity and served as a confusing distraction, the wind served him well. His eyes were not his best sense, shark-blooded his nose carried to him things no normal human could know, no matter their training. It was a great advantage, for even those seeking to hide their scent from others would never be able to tell if they had succeeded against the shark's nose. Few humans could avoid that cunning sense no matter their preparation.

As the night wore on Ise caught a hint in a gust of wind. He thought little of it at first, but as he had been trained, marked it in case it should prove important. When he caught the same glimmer of sensation again he was thus warned, but did not yet react. In the desert he could not make the first move, and he must avoid all distractions until the last moment, to save time should it not concern him.

So it was that Ise was forewarned by scent when a new arrival appeared on the scene in the desert, a man walking through the barren landscape of dune and stone. His hearing did not tell him until far too late, when the soft footfalls on the sand could finally be heard and Ise turned his head to see a ninja walking along the dunes in a course that would take him to meet Ise if no one deviated.

_A single sand ninja?_ Ise wondered, catching a glimpse of the tan and brown uniform. _Surely he can't mean to attack me? _Yet the sand ninja's path clearly intersected Ise's at a point in the future.

The encounter was unanticipated, and Ise wondered what to do about it. His first reaction was to simply rush to the attack, kill the sand ninja, and leave the body buried in the dunes. It was an impulse it took some work to crush. Ise knew it was not the right move, but it was what he wanted to do, and it took some moments to recognize the shark's influence in the suggestion. _Curse it, this is becoming impossible_, he thought, but then pushed it to the back of his mind. Other concerns were more important. He knew better than to kill without a reason, the consequences were always damaging. Better to let the sand ninja show his intent. _He cannot be certain of my mission, and surely the grass ninja are a greater threat than I_, Ise decided, but his grip on his spear was tight indeed.

So Ise continued his steady walking pace, and in time the sand ninja came to walk beside him. Ise looked at him out of the corner of his eye, knowing the sand ninja could see only a generic mist ninja due to his henge disguise. This reminded him of the possibility that the sand ninja's appearance might well be meaningless_. It is a dangerous assumption to try and read anything from his appearance, but it is my only clue_. The sand ninja was shorter than Ise, but matched his long-legged stride with ease, moving fluidly over the treacherous sand dunes. He had a solid build, and a face crisscrossed with many slender scars, as if from needle slashes. The sand ninja wore the brown and tan easily, and kept his forehead protector strapped to his left arm, leaving his face exposed. _An odd affectation for the desert_, Ise noted, but it did not seem important. All in all, there was nothing to mark this ninja out particularly. This, unfortunately, meant little.

They walked together in silence for some time, neither ninja saying anything, simply taking the measure of each other. It was a strange scene, two ninja who were not enemies, but were not friends, one intruder and one defender, walking together as if simply taking a nighttime stroll. The desert around them belied the pleasant scenery, for this was a violent environment, one as lacking in mercy as the jagged coastlines of Ise's home in Mist.

As Ise remained stubbornly silent for many minutes, the sand ninja finally spoke. When he did it was as if speaking to an old friend, and he did not pause for a moment in walking with Ise. "Usually Mist ninja come to the Wind country from the south." He said, plainly expecting a response.

_So that is the game then_, Ise recognized, rising to play it himself. _I was never good at dancing words, pity. Well, I can always just gut him._ "Even ninja can travel south before the coming winter," he answered.

The sand ninja smiled, amused. "So they do, but this begs the question of why a mist ninja would be so far from home in the cold north that his migration should bring him here."

_Damn_! Ise recognized that he was outclassed in this game, but he must continue to play it as best he could. "There are many things that may bring a ninja far from home, most of them are harmless enough."

"All too true," the sand ninja remarked, looking thoughtful. "Yet it has been said that nothing mist ninja do is harmless."

"Few things ninja do are harmless by the reckoning of normal men," Ise replied. "But such standards do not measure ninja."

Behind his smiling face the sand ninja let a bit of darkness creep into his eyes, and Ise sensed he had scored a point with the last remark. "True enough, but few cross the desert alone for harmless purposes, it is not the way here."

There was no easy answer for that remark, so Ise let it hang for a moment, yielding the advantage.

"I think your stride belies simply a steady journey south to the sea," the sand ninja's voice was more cutting now. "You have a greater goal than simply wandering with such a purposeful walk."

"Going home is not a suitable purpose?" Ise began with that remark, but recognized quickly that it would not serve, so he added. "Or perhaps crossing the desert requires a purpose of its own?"

"You are wise for an outsider here, to realize that, but that purpose and the purpose behind your stride are two separate things indeed," his face grew grim. "And you head unerringly with your gaze in one direction. What lies to the southwest that interests you so?"

"So you must know my interests now?"

"I am merely curious, curious what brings a traveler so far so fast," now the sand ninja smiled again. "Is that not suitable for a ninja in his own land?"

By now Ise was tired of the game, and so he answered as he had long wished, as a shark would. "I have nothing to tell you. My purpose is my own, and nothing of yours to bother with."

"Is it? Yet, I think I know your purpose, mist ninja," the sand ninja's smile grew viscous and hungry now. "There is only one thing that might interest you to the southwest, a chase. You are hunting the hunters it seems. One intruder followed by other intruders, all from the north, and now you come, a mist ninja far away from home. It speaks well of the importance of this chase does it not."

"If you know so much, why haven't you done anything about it?" Ise asked the sand ninja, honestly confused.

"Why indeed?" the sand ninja suddenly stopped walking. Ise took two more steps, and then turned about to face the ninja with a swift motion, holding his spear at the ninja's chest.

"Well, a quick move, and an odd weapon," for a man with a sharp point of steel ready to skewer him the sand ninja seemed far too amused, and Ise immediately began to consider this with far more focus than he put on the other man's words.

"I asked you why you hadn't done anything," Ise told him slowly, mind searching for an explanation of the sand ninja's actions. "Should you really let this happen on your lands?"

"Should I?" the sand ninja chuckled softly. "I wonder. Do you know, mist ninja, what happened a few months ago in Konoha?"

"You ambushed the leaf during the chuunin exam, and lost," Ise replied, barely managing avoid laughing. "Your whole village got tricked into such foolishness, and is now weak."

"So you do know then, just how weak we are now," the sand ninja shrugged. "And you have not figured out why I haven't done anything about the problem to the southwest?"

It took Ise a moment to figure out what the sand ninja was saying, to consider things from a perspective he rarely did, even as he was trying to determine why the sand ninja let him level his spear to his chest. There was a duplicity to both moves, Ise realized, but he determined one first. "You don't want a conflict with the grass ninja, so you won't give them any excuse," he began, and then something even darker dawned on him. "No, you want the grass ninja to succeed, so that you can say you helped them, so maybe they'll take you in. Traitorous bastard!" Ise shouted into the raw desert air, revealing the absolute contempt he had for those who would forsake their loyalties.

"Traitorous?" now it was the sand ninja's turn to become angry. "You call me traitorous? A single man tricked all our leaders, and now there's no one to lead us, and a mad demon boy is our greatest weapon and the son of the former Kage? I'm not a traitor; I'm just going to leave a doomed village. But thank you for confirming my assessment of you, mist ninja."

"What do you mean?" Ise sensed violence was drawing closer, and he needed to answer the other puzzle before it came to blows. He had sensed something strange about the sand ninja, it was there in the back of his mind, but it was elusive, and he had to struggle to try and remember why it was important.

"Oh, really. Surely you understand what your presence means. The grass ninja can catch their prize and they will reward me, they will understand I let them pass, and their small country always needs more strength," the sand ninja made it clear he had thought this through. "But you, you're a mist ninja. If you take this prize it will go back to mist, a possible enemy of Sand, and you'd never reward me, the Mist do nothing but kill traitors." Now the sand ninja sneered. "So I guess you have to die." His lethal intent was clear, but Ise was no longer listening.

_His anger is fake! _Ise had realized suddenly, recalling the sand ninja's outburst a moment before. His voice had been raw and angry, and his face had shown it, but something had not matched up. Ise recalled now, samurai shouting at him on the road south, and the fury of the young grass ninja he had killed. _Anger brings blood to the face, hot blood, blood I can smell, but not in this ninja._ Even as the sand ninja finished his last words, Ise realized what he was really holding his spear against. _This is a clone, he must have made the switch before I turned. Stabbing him will just give him the opening to attack._

Still Ise didn't move. He needed to buy a bit of time. _Where is the real one?_ He searched desperately, but he could not move his eyes or body, or the enemy would know, and he suspected the sand ninja had an attack that would kill him if given the chance to strike him when vulnerable. He had to rely on the one weapon the other did not recognize, the shark's blood.

"So I have to die then," Ise remarked. "How do you plan to accomplish that, you seem at a disadvantage?"

The clone laughed, but Ise was not paying any attention to it, he was searching his senses for a clue, either scent, or some other way, to identify his enemy.

Suddenly, he had it.

In the sea, all motions echo against each other, for nothing moves that does not cause water to move, forcing it away. All motions can therefore be felt in the motion of water near them, in the changes of pressure and flow, at least for those who can detect such motion. Mammals cannot, but fish can, and sharks among them, so Ise could sense such things. Of course, such senses were normally useless in air, but in the fluidity of sand, there was great similarity to the ocean, and Ise found he could feel a vibration in the sand.

It was a slight thing, a tiny sensation he barely knew how to interpret, but the shark's voice told him what was necessary, the burning instincts swelling up from deep inside Ise, a single potent urge. _Strike now!_ He did not need to see the enemy, did not require the confirmation of the eyes, his body told him to strike and so he did.

Ise spun around, kicking out to rise into the air, spinning in midair and bringing his spear up against his body. A moment later his spin brought him around to the right place, and he did not look, but simply thrust out, the spear punching deep into the packed sand as Ise exerted strength and chakra.

There was a gasp, followed by a sick, choking noise, and Ise took no chances, but stabbed the spear deeper as he landed, twisting to make absolutely certain. Behind him now, the clone crumbled away into sand, spilling over onto the desert surface as if it had never been. Only then did he begin to clear away the sand to reveal the sand ninja's body.

It was not a kind sight. Ise had pierced the man in the stomach, and then wrenched his spear brutally, ripping the man open with a wound that was assuredly lethal, but might taken hours or even days to fully kill the sand ninja. The sand ninja could still see through tormented eyes and he groaned and gasped with constant agony. His limbs twitched and spasmed, struggling to grasp his ruined body and put things back together.

Horrid as it was, Ise was past remorse. It had been life or death, and there was no mercy between ninja, certainly not from him anymore. _He was going to be a traitor. He deserves only death_. That conviction was rock solid in Ise, forged by the doctrine of Mizukage and the Warlord. _Yet, I cannot leave it like this, I need something from this one still._

"Listen to me," Ise said in a cold voice, grasping the sand ninja's head with his hand. "I need to know where the grass ninja are going. So I can catch them."

"Why…tell…you?" His voice broken and wheezing, the sand ninja was nevertheless defiant.

"Tell me, and I'll kill you now," Ise replied levelly. "Don't and your desert can be your end."

"Curse…you…bloody…mist…ninja…" the sand ninja coughed, blood coating his mouth. "Oasis…southeast…past…twin…spires…only…water…" His voice trailed off. A fit of coughing came, and then he managed a few more words. "Do…it…"

"The oasis past the twin spires," Ise tightened his grip, shaking the sand ninja. "They have to go there for water, you're sure?"

The sand ninja could only nod.

"Very well," Ise rose, took his spear in both hands, and brought it down over the sand ninja's heart.

When it was done, Ise swept some sand over the dead ninja's body, just enough to hide it for a time, though he knew the desert vermin would consume the man soon enough, there was no way to prevent that. "An oasis to the southeast." Finally Ise could put words to an objective, name a place. "I suppose I have to bet on that, and head there directly." He told himself that, and decided to stop now for the rest of the night. He would rest, and then climb a high dune in the morning to find these twin spires. Once he knew the direction he could proceed with great haste. For the first time Ise felt he had a chance to succeed against the grass ninja who sought the same quarry as he. It was only a small regret for him that another had to die to provide him with that confidence.


	16. Chapter 14 Desolation Inside

Author's Notes: Warning, this chapter is not nice, its got some pretty nasty stuff going on, and though I tried to be carefully with how the scenes were described, the relevant topic is kind of hard to broach in anything but a nasty way. As a result, the series is going to be rated R from this point on. Apologies. However, as a result I'm very interested in comments on how this chapter is received, and what people think as a result. 

Regardless, thanks to all who review, and some answers:

Meggido: Funny that you would compare Ise's enhanced senses to the Byakugan, since sight is probably his weakest sense. Regardless, I like using the senses because I think its not what you'd think about first upon seeing a guy who's part shark, but they may be his most useful and effective bloodline power. The trick he used in the last chapter is effectively sensing with a lateral line, a series of pressure sensitive organs that almost all 'fish' have.

EvilP: Actually, I'd thought about the whole electrolysis, hydrogen and oxygen explanation, but while yes that does produce a tremendous amount of heat through an exothermic reaction, its not really burning, that would be more a series of explosions, while Mizuho definitely creates sustained flames that you can stand in and burn like a combustive fire.

Chapter 14 – Desolation Inside 

(concurrently)

The inside of a sandstorm might well be likened to hell on earth, and this was what awaited Yi in her flight. Wind whipped, the sand struck her as a thousand lashes in the first few moments, and blood blossomed all over her body. Her clothes were torn apart beyond recognition, if she had been able to even see them. Vision was limited to a matter of inches.

Yi fell to the ground after the first three steps, but it offered no protection, for that sand lashed at her with equal force, and there was nothing solid.

_I must act, or I will die!_ She tried to shout the words, but could not force her mouth open now, so all was internal. Her cry was desperate, for Yi had no idea how to survive within the boundaries of a sandstorm. _How would anyone survive?_ The thought flashed through her mind even as the sand seemed to answer that survival was impossible. She thought desperately, even as pain grew in her, and she knew that soon she would be able to do nothing but howl until death claimed her. _I must act now!_

There were no ideas. Yi tried desperately to pile sand before her face with her hands, but it was blown away almost as fast as she put it there, tearing into her flesh. _I need something more solid, a barrier that will resist the sand. Wood, or stone, that could stop this_, she knew, but no such thing was present for her. Yi's mind was scattering, and she came swiftly to doubt her course. _Why am I here?_ She wondered suddenly.

The answer was quick enough, though it called forth a vortex of memory in its own way just as painful as the sands tormenting lash. The grass ninja, the grass country, Mizuho, my father, on and on it went, the desperate course of her journey, by when she passed over the grass ninja she recognized something. _How would they survive?_

It was a telling question, and Yi knew the answer already. They would conjure plants to form a barricade. _I must use my own powers to form a barricade_; Yi seized on this idea for a second, and then all but abandoned it in desperation. The stinging pain had grown greater now, and she could no longer even keep her eyes open as slits. She buried her face in the sand beneath her, desperate for a respite. _Here is nothing here but sand! What can I do with sand? I am doomed._

Flat on her stomach in the sand, her back and hands and legs bleeding and getting worse moment by moment, Yi realized she was dead. _I will face death with my eyes open, at least._ She decided.

With her face still against the desert sand, Yi opened her eyes slowly, wanting to see death come for her.

She saw only sand, but in the fading light beneath the sandstorm it glittered as the last glimmers caught it.

_Why should it glitter like that?_ She wondered, mind foggy, and then remembered something.

In the compounds of the Mizain the families made as many things as they could for themselves, from clothing to weapons to tile to glass. Glass made from riverbed sand.

_Glass is melted sand!_ Yi realized it with a flash, and suddenly she knew how to build a barrier. She brought her bleeding hands over the exposed metal of her remaining canteens, and let them dribble down onto the sand, shaping the now muddy sand before and about her as she did so, forming a small depression just tall enough to block the merciless wind. It would soon be swept away as nothing but wet sand, but she was not done. She exerted her will and the last of her chakra, eyes closing in surrender to the death that would claim her if this effort failed as she did so.

"Mizuho!" It was the barest croak, but the water embedded in that sand heard the word, and it obeyed the command of the blood. It burned, searing with unbearable heat for a moment, burning away to steam in seconds, but leaving behind something far more than simply sand, a shield of glass.

It was not the glass of windows, no, it was a crude, shapeless mess, but it was solid and crystalline, holding shape and strength against the lash of wind. Yi dug down blindly in the sand with that glass around her, until her strength exhausted herself completely, and collapsed into darkness.

The sand howled for hours, making even the barest movement impossible for all who lived, so the Yi lay ensconced in her glass protection not more than two hundred meters from where the eight grass ninja sheltered behind vegetation barricades against the solidity of rock. They were unaware of each other, and unaware of their closeness, but there was one who was not.

The sandstorm ruled above the sands, but not below their surface, even as the dunes moved. Below that sandy surface another figure sheltered, one greatly worried by the current events. _Yi…what is happening?_ Shiro rested beneath the protection of sand above him, walled beneath the surface of the desert and shielded because he no longer breathed. _You escaped the grass ninja, but do you still live?_ It was a question that haunted Shiro, who had seen Yi collapse inside her tiny shelter of sand and glass even as he had marked the far more secure grass hiding place. When the sandstorm is done Yi will be vulnerable, and the grass ninja will simply collect her broken body. It was something Shiro had no intention of allowing. He had long protected Yi from the hunting grass ninja, saving her for trap after trap with nothing more than his blade and his eyeless gaze. Five ninja had died on that blade, staring into the blank face without eyes, hesitating one moment too long. Those men had died so that Yi could escape, and Shiro would not hesitate to kill more, but he could not attack the ANBU. Even he could not move about in the fury of the sandstorm, it would scrape him down to nothing but bone, and leave him unable to move but still existing, a fate worse than any death. _I did not come here to end that way, but I must protect Yi. There will come an opportunity._

Shiro had placed his sword up against the surface of the dune, and he could tell the strength of the wind by its force of vibration against his grasp. This gave him a much clearer estimate of the power of the howling wind than anyone looking out or trying to hear might have, and among these ninja who were not desert dwellers, it allowed Shiro to plan an action. _The wind will abate in time. I must wait._

So the shadow-souled ninja waited hours and hours under the endless howl of the hellish winds, sand screaming above with all the fury of the end of the world itself. A power of nature mightier than even the greatest of the ninja could wield. It would have been humbling had anyone but the shadow-souled been watching, for Shiro's emotions were deadened to nothing, and all he felt was a desperate need to protect the presence he felt mere yards away and above him. The one he must protect, his Lady Yi.

It took sixteen hours, fourteen minutes, and fifty-five seconds, well into the morning of the next day, for the wind to abate sufficiently for Shiro to act. The sandstorm still blackened the sky, and the wind still howled with great power, but it so longer had the strength to rip through cloth and skin, and though a normal man could have still done little, the limits on the actions of the shadow-souled were lesser.

Slowly Shiro dug himself free of the sand, and in the storming winds he moved over to the place Yi rested. She lay in motionless repose, her clothes torn all but apart, and the peasant's sack she carried ripped open. Dried blood covered her back and hands, and her face, but she still lived, Shiro could see her rise and fall with each breath. "Yi…" he whispered.

Standing with the wind between himself and Yi, Shiro grasped Yi's wounded body and pulled her up. He cradled her head against his chest, providing a small pocket of air so she could breathe freely. She did not stir, being too exhausted and wounded to move, something necessary to Shiro's work, for he could not reveal himself to her.

Then, carrying Yi against him, marching backwards so his back took the painful rasp of the sandstorm lash, Shiro proceeded to walk southwest, moving free of the storm slowly and carefully. It was slow progress, for his feet had little purchase on the sandstorm deposited sand, but he proceeded. It took four more hours, but he worked free of the storm, into the burning light of the desert sun.

Now he had another problem.

Yi was wounded and battered, and all Shiro saw that she no longer had any water with her. He carried none himself, past the need for nutrients, and so could not help her. _She cannot survive on her own here, but I cannot aid her now, nor can I let the grass ninja come to catch her. What can I do?_

Shiro stood motionless over Yi for a time after depositing her in the somewhat cooler shadow of a desert rock face. He could see nothing to do. There was no water source nearby that he knew of, and he could not simply drag Yi in a random direction. _I suppose I must go and look for water. _It was not an effective solution, but the bond laid over Shiro did not allow him to do nothing, so he set off to the west, searching for any sign of water, desperate and hopeless that he would die with his purpose unfulfilled.

The heat of the desert did not impede Shiro's shadow-souled stride, and so he walked fast. Thus, he was several miles to the west when his bond to Yi told him that her position compared to his had changed, that sixth sense revealing that she had moved. _Can she be walking about in that condition?_ Shiro could not know, and he could only turn and run back, straining to move fast over loose sand that offered the feet little purchase. By the time he returned all would already be decided for him.

Yi awoke to the blissful touch of water on her broken lips. She licked up that heavenly wetness quickly, and opened her mouth further. More water presented itself, and she gulped it down hurriedly, squeezing it through her parched throat, not yet questioning what was going on. This process repeated itself three more times until Yi, rejuvenated, found the strength to open her eyes.

Blinking slowly, brightness flooded her vision as the desert sun swept over everything. Yi slammed her eyelids back down, and then opened them only the barest margin. Her eyes lacked much shielding, for her eyelashes had been smashed and broken by the sandstorm. Finally, however, vision returned in some semblance of normalcy, and Yi saw before her a man.

She realized swiftly that he was a ninja, for he wore the brown and tan of the Sand ninja, with their strange hourglass symbol on his forehead protector, the only part of his uniform not touched by the omnipresent sand. The sand ninja was at first ordinary looking, but Yi then noticed his staggeringly sharp eyes and the long white scar streaking down his face from left ear to the edge of his mouth. "W-why?" She managed to croak at last.

"Ah, good, you can speak," the sand ninja brushed his gloved hand over her face, knocking away sand and blood. "I was worried you had lost your voice for a moment." His voice seemed kind of the surface, but even confused as she was Yi could detect a strange hungry current beneath his words, and looking into those sharp eyes she saw it there as well. "May I ask what happened to you?"

This confused Yi even more, for she did not know what had happened. _It's midday, or nearly so_, she realized, looking out, _but what happened to the sandstorm?_ She looked around her, but saw no trace of her glass crèche. She was leaning up against a rock she could not remember in the least. "I don't know…" Yi answered at last. "I was in the sandstorm and…"

'The sandstorm," the sand ninja smiled, and it held amusement and something more, something darker. "That explains a lot."

"Wha-" Yi began, and then she looked down at herself.

She no longer appeared as she had for the time of her travels in the grass country. Her peasant's clothes were all but destroyed, with only bits and pieces of cloth remaining, so that she might as well be naked before the gaze of the sand ninja. Yet, little enough skin was exposed, for much of her body was coated in dried blood. It went in streaks down her stomach, and her forearms were stained completely red. "How…" she muttered. "If my wounds were this bad…"

"I have a little bit of training as a medical ninja," the sand ninja told her. "Not enough to heal all your wounds, but at least to close some of the cuts.

"Why heal me?" Yi asked reflexively.

The sand ninja ran his hand along Yi's chin, his gloves molding carefully as he caressed her skin. "I could not leave such a lovely desert blossom to wilt in the sun."

Yi jerked back from his touch with a shock. _He wants me!_ It was almost a gasp inside. She was not naïve, having learned of the relationships between men and women both from teachers and experience, but among the Mizain, where relationships must be carefully planned against the specter of incest, for their relationships were complex and close, such feelings had always been firmly suppressed. This man's obvious desire, for now Yi understood that was the hunger in his eyes, was a shock. She did not know how to react.

"The clothes you are wearing are ruined, but I found some in your pack," the sand ninja tossed it to her. "You should put them on before the sun burns you."

Yi reached down into the depths of her pack, and saw that the money and food she had kept there was gone, likewise the extra weapons she had stored there, leaving nothing but her old ninja uniform, the one she had not worn for all her long journey. _There is no choice. I must wear it now. I cannot go against the desert in nothing but my skin._

Slowly, feeling the still raw scrapes and lacerations as she did, Yi put on the old ninja uniform, the brown with streaks of blue and red that marked out the Mizain colors.

As she did so the sand ninja continued to watch her, and Yi could feel those hungry eyes on her body, but also something darker beneath them. "That is an unusual uniform," the sand ninja spoke idly, but Yi could tell the comment was pointed. "I do not think it belongs to any of the countries I am aware of."

"I'm from far away," Yi answered quickly, but she knew it was meaningless. _He knows I'm a rogue, and he took my weapons._ She realized now that her canteens were gone, and she had emptied them all anyway. The full truth of her situation dawned on her now. _I am his prisoner. _Yi recognized this, but she looked at the sand ninja and smiled, as if he was her only savior. "Thank you for helping me."

"You must have been thrown against the rock in the sandstorm," the sand ninja decided, muttering the words to make the odd situation more reasonable. "But it seems to have protected you more or less. Still, nearly miraculous."

Yi, having no idea how she had reached this place, or even where she was, could only nod. "What now?" She asked, anxious for him to tell her what would happen to her. _I need to make some plan to escape this man,_ Yi realized. _I won't be anyone's prisoner, not anymore! I've suffered too much to lose my freedom now!_

"We cannot stay here, and you still need to recover," the sand ninja looked off to the southwest. "There is an oasis not far from here, we will go there."

"Alright, lead the way," Yi told him, feeling her body complain when she stood, but resolved to move. _I need this man to get me to the oasis. Then I can do something. Until then…_

"I am Owano Dai, what's your name lady kunoichi?" the sand ninja, Dai, asked her as they began to walk over the sand.

"Mizain Yi," was the simple reply.

From a high dune an eyeless gaze swept down on the two figures. _Yi…_the thought was filled with regret. _What trouble has seized you now?_ Shiro looked on this with an echo of sadness and failure, recognizing by his uniform that it was a sand ninja who led her forward. _A new problem, with the old one not yet gone_. Shiro shook his head, for as he looked south he could see, miles off in the distance, that the sandstorm had stopped, and the grass ninja were coming.

"Ah…blissful…" Yi sighed deeply, letting water roll out of her hair and down her back. Indeed it was blissful, even if cold, this small pool that formed the center of the oasis. Water trickled slowly out of the side of a tall rock face here, flowing down and into this pool before draining back under the sand. The pool was small but deep, and the water warm at the top and frightfully cold at the bottom. It was not the best of water, filled with the substance of rock and sand, but this gave it perfect qualities for cleaning. Yi had jumped into the pool within moments of reaching the oasis, taking this one chance to clean the accumulated grime of the desert and many days before away. Most importantly she rubbed away the dried blood that had covered so much of her skin. Beneath that caked redness the skin was raw and tender, pink with newness, but Yi felt much better seeing that. _I am whole again_, she thought, her body recovering some simply from the very touch of water, even as she still felt weak and exhausted.

Down once more Yi dove, this time shaking her hair fully free of the ties she had put it through for walking. Spinning in the water she forced her hands through it, scraping the sand out of the red locks, pulling as much damaged hair free as she could, restoring those long strands, the one part of her heritage she still took pride in, to something resembling their proper form.

When Yi surfaced her red hair with its bright streaks of aquamarine blue caught the bright desert sun and glistened, shinning free with a glossy power. Yi spun about at the surface and then exited the pool, walking onto the hard earth here as water dripped from her.

She found herself staring into the leering eyes of Owano Dai. The sand ninja did not even bother to hide his perception, he leered at Yi up and down, walking his eyes slowly of the dripping wet Mizain girl, searching every place that fabric clung. Yi had never been looked at like that before, and she found it horrifying and frightfully stirring at once. Little though her experience with the relationships of men and women might be, Yi believed she was at least a little pretty. She had long been told she resembled her mother, a woman of great beauty, and her form was trim and motion fluid from ninja training. Yet it was one thing to believe you might be attractive to men, to catch quick glances from strangers, and to note twinges of the eye toward her, compared to this visceral onslaught of raw, crude, desire. It had been present before, when Dai had looked upon her tattered and all but naked form in the desert, but that was nothing compared to this. This man hungers for me, the realization plunged a cold feeling deep down in Yi, and she was terrified of Owano Dai suddenly, knowing her dire situation. _He wants me…and there is nothing to stop him. I am his prisoner, a rogue, and there is no one here, no witnesses. _A searing fear spiked in Yi then, followed by a spasm of rage. She knew suddenly why the sand ninja had chosen to save her, a rogue, when he could have easily let her die. _He is going to take me for his desires, and then leave me for dead in the desert. No!_ She wanted to scream, even as Dai's gaze continued to measure her. Anger flared, and Yi reached out for her power with that anger, but as she did so coughing wracked her, and she felt chakra slip free of her grasp, unwilling to obey commands.

Anger died, and Yi sank to the ground. Only by long control did she avoid crying. _My powers are still exhausted; they will recover soon, but by then it will be too late. _Searching herself she found only faint glimmers of chakra remained, not enough to fight and win against this ninja who had taken all her weapons and was skilled enough to travel the desert alone. _I am dead. _Yi clenched her hands into fists, and then slowly released them, hopeless.

"You are indeed a desert rose lady kunoichi," Dai remarked, his hungry smile fixed on his face. "But now I wonder, since we are resting here, how you came to be so lost in the desert?"

_I might as well tell him, it doesn't matter now…_Yi thought, but she found that there still nestled a spark of resistance in her. _Yes, I'll tell him, perhaps it will buy some time to think of a way to escape him._ "It is a complex story, from places far from here, are you certain you wish to know?"

"Oh, yes, quite," Dai chuckled. "I am curious indeed to know the source of such a gem as yourself."

Dai's words were smooth, but his smiled, with its cruel hunger and terrible promise, never wavered. _Is he mocking me? Does this amuse him, to toy with me like this?_ Yi struggled to keep the anger from her face, but failed. Dai's smile only widened.

"I was banished from my home, in the jungles to the north," It still hurt that Yi could describe no further from whence she had come. "My father cast me out as a sacrifice for the clan."

"A sacrifice? How cruel a father, and how foolish, to sacrifice such a shining ruby." Dai frowned in mock seriousness, but his eyes sparkled with amusement.

_Damn you!_ Yi almost hissed. "He had his reasons, and he was a cruel man, a terrible man. His children were nothing more than tools."

"Hmm…that is indeed tragic, but what happened once you were cast out?"

"I wandered, a lost ninja, with no home or place to go. I made mistakes, and was branded a criminal, perhaps rightly," Yi might have hated speaking to Dai, but there was something worthwhile in telling her story, even in such an oblique way, to another human. Still, she wished desperately it were not to this man, this way. _I want someone to listen to my words and believe me. _"As a criminal I was chased, and I wandered as a fugitive, always barely escaping, lost and hopeless. They chased me into the desert eventually. I could not escape them, or death them, so I fled into the sandstorm, and after that you found me."

"An unfortunate story, are these pursuers still after you?" Dai asked.

"The grass ninja? I suppose, I'm sure they survived the sandstorm." Yi did not think anything of the question until the words were already out of her mouth. It was only then she realized their dual implications. The grass ninja were indeed still after her, that trouble remained, but far more critically, she had just confirmed Dai's need to get rid of her.

"So you are still pursued, little flower, a pity that," Dai's eyes went cold. "I had hoped to keep you here in this vase until I grew tired of you, but it seems I shall enjoy your blossom for only one day."

The remark so sickened Yi that she spat at his feet. "Enough of your damn pretense." She infused her hatred into every word. "Do what you planned and have done."

Dai inched forward toward Yi, and his right hand darted out like a snake's to grab her left. She tried to twist away reflexively, but his other hand moved just as blindingly fast, and grasped her right hand. "Do not think me crude simply because I come from this wasteland, little Yi. You are a delightful little thing, and I will take my time enjoying this."

Yi kicked, twisted, and struggled, but Dai held her fast, and then he spun his wrists in both hands, and drew his thumb along the inside of her wrist. As he did Yi felt all the strength drain from her limbs. She could still move, but she no longer had any force to strike, and so she could not fight back with any force.

Dai smiled with pleasure. "I told you I had some medical ninja training. This technique is used on the wounded to prevent them from harming themselves, but I have found it has a most pleasant other use as well."

"Damn you…" Yi whispered as the sand ninja's face closed in on hers.

"Oh, come now," Dai muttered, taking the gloves off his hands. "You had already been uprooted by the sandstorm little flower, do not begrudge me making a bit of use for you after that."

Dai ran his fingers along her chin, his touch smooth but utterly repulsive to Yi, making her shiver, though she lacked the strength to resist him at all, he brushed away her grasping hands with the simplest of motions, as if batting away an insect. His control of the situation was absolute, and he reveled in Yi's powerlessness.

Moving her head slowly, Dai brought his mouth to Yi's face, placing his lips on hers. Yi felt the cruel heat on his mouth seep into her, as his caressed her lips with his own. She felt polluted and vile, and forever tainted. _My first kiss from a man outside my family, and it is this! _She tried to scream, but Dai smothered her cries and stole her breath.

As the kiss continued, infusing a cruel heat not her own into Yi's lips even as the revulsion rose in her to become something she felt she could not contain she could only scream inside. _Damn you! No! Not this! No!_

Dai's tongue brought Yi's mouth open, and his own tongue moved into her mouth, and she felt the damp wetness of his saliva on her tongue. It struck her own with a horrible shock, ripping her defenses apart even as she knew this had only begun. Her mind fell away, trying to push the scene aside, but she could not erase that sense of wetness, the cruel heat, even as she tried to summon any desperate strength to shove him away.

Yi's limbs failed her, even as Dai's hands moved to grasp her body, and all she could sense was a revolting wet heat of his tongue upon her lips.

_Heat…wet…_The two thoughts seared Yi's mind with all the force of the sandstorm of yesterday, and her anger condensed into something far more potent, a raw, over-boiling desire for destruction.

Yi's limbs had failed her, but she retained control of her body for Dai's sickening amusement. Now that served her, as her tongue shot into the sand ninja's mouth as well. Dai's eyes went wide in surprise and amusement, but this had happened before, as his prey surrendered, so he did not react.

Mizain Yi was not his prey, and he forsook the one chance to save himself.

The body is a barrier to the conduction of chakra, a seal from without, the boundary of the self that prevents manipulation by another, but it is not a perfect barrier. There are always holes, and if another is allowed within, the barrier is breached and there are no defenses.

Yi's tongue surged into Dai's mouth, and touched the saliva, the water, on the inside of his throat. She closed her eyes and let her anger release itself, as it desired. Flaming.

Dai jolted back, and he screamed, the sound breaking through the desert afternoon and echoing off the rock face, a sound of abject pain and horror that was suddenly silenced in midcry. The scream failed him to become a croak as his throat was shorn away by burning fury. He ran in circles, staring upward at the sun, and clutching his neck even as the fire burning within him, spreading every second as the power of Mizuho ignited his body from within.

The sand ninja was silent at the end, as flames burst from mouth, nose, eyes, and every pore, consuming him from within to leave nothing but charred ashes drifting to the rocky desert ground.

Yi's anger had evaporated at the moment of Dai's terrible scream. Hearing that abject and absolute agony, the horror evoked by a fire that _should not be_, she felt all her furry drain away. Unable to move with any strength, she could only lie softly on the ground as she watched the final moments of this man, feeling nothing but empty pity for a man she had hated as nothing else only moments before.

"By the gods…" Yi whispered when it was finished. "What am I, what is this power?" The words were soft, but they seemed to fall dead in the desert air, as if the desert refused to accept Yi's claim to ignorance.

She recalled then the phrase the samurai had used for Mizuho, not knowing its true name. "Demon fire they called it, am I a demon then?" Yi sobbed, face in her hands, even her cries weak. "A demon, a heartless creature whose touch is death. Is that what I am?"

Yi lay sobbing until she could sob no more, until she felt empty of everything. When that was done she rolled into the shadows beneath the rocks and let the exhaustion claim her as the desert sun came down in the west, staining the land bloody, or as if the fires of Mizuho should cover it.


	17. Chapter 15 Black Red Sky

Author's Notes: My, sincere apologies are in order at this point I suppose. This story has not been updated in months, and I feel really bad about that. Frankly, I don't have much in the way of an excuse, except I've been busy graduating and getting a new job and several other things intervened. Still, it was never my intention to abandon this story and I haven't. There's plenty still to do, but I'm getting back on track with it and hope to have regular updates resume shortly. So, any old readers who find their way back, or new readers, here are the further developments.   
Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.   
Chapter 15 - Black-Red Sky 

(the next day)

In the morning the wind blew hard. Sharp gusts raced down behind the rock escarpment sheltering the oasis and brought a surge of cold air. This wind, cold and different from the winds that had blown before, woke Yi from the desperate escape of her dreams, and she could no longer pretend she was not where she was, and that yesterday and the many days before had never happened.

In the cold morning Yi took water from the oasis, and, giving into her body's need, raided the belongings of Owano Dai and gulped down food. She ate with frenzied urgency, trying to block out the visions in her mind of the previous day, but it was useless. She could still feel that ghostly touch on her, feel the burning sensation behind her tongue, and the twin images it brought forth, violation and death. Her shell had been broken, and nothing but fire spilled out, the very substance of life made to burn, the fury of Mizuho.

"Everything I touch dies," Yi sobbed to herself. "This is my power, to take the very stuff of life and turn it to burning death." With her chakra, recovered now from the long sleep, she cast her hand to the top of the oasis pool, and at her silent command it burst into flame on its surface. Staring into the flames, Yi let then it consume all her hope, all her happiness, everything she had once wanted in life. _I am lost in the desert now, and I have no destination. There is nothing left here._

The grass ninja still pursued her, Yi was certain of that. They would come for her soon. _Perhaps today, yes, I would like that, let them come and meet me here; I'm not running anymore_. Yi resolved that in a resigned way, simply lacking the will to travel further. She had no place to go, even her long trek had been brought on by the chase alone, she had not had a path in life since before the grass ninja had begun to chase her. "The chase has brought me this far, but I won't run anymore, I'm tired of it." Looking down at her clothes, a part of her that yet felt whole, Yi saw only a lie. "These are a ninja's clothes, but I am no ninja, I'm just a fool with a demon's powers. I do not belong in them." Though she said those words, Yi felt empty wearing only the clothes, so she ransacked Dai's belongings, reclaiming the weapons he had taken from her, kunai and shuriken. When she was finished she smiled ruefully. "At least when the grass ninja come I can appear as the ninja I might have been if father had not banished me. It will be a good way to die." Yi had no illusions. She would not survive. With no place to flee in the desert she could only get lost and die under the sun, and though here at the pool, with water before her, she might fight well, the grass ninja would still beat her, or if not them, eventually ninja from sand would come to destroy her. _I am an outcast, a rogue, and a rogue's fate is always death, inevitably._

Yi sat down to wait, resting and maintaining her strength, with only the wind as company.

It took her some time to mark the wind, a steady chill force from the north, coming down toward the oasis. It was unlike the wind she had felt in the desert before, steady and potent. _This is no desert wind, strange._ Yi climbed to the top of the rock face, wondering and curious. What she saw there startled her.

To the north the desert sky had vanished beneath a solid bank of blackness. "Clouds…" Yi breathed, dark heavy clouds, come over the mountains, blasted free of the jungles that normally held them by the cold northern air coming south with winter, dark clouds laden with water, bringing to the desert something it only rarely saw. Looking at those clouds Yi realized something, something she had not expected. "It is going to rain." It was a strange thought, and with it she felt less desire to simply let everything go. "It is going to rain," she repeated. "Perhaps it will be nice."

The rain came on soon enough, and Yi watched its approach from the oasis, looking up past the rock face and wondering at the scale of it, this massive stormfront came on with a fury she had not seen even in the mighty storms of the grass plains. _This desert storm, it has fury._ Yi watched it in wonderment.

Lightning crackled and burst among those black clouds, bolt after bolt, sheer and brilliant, hot white-blue, stinging the eyes and angry. There was rawness to this storm, and as it came Yi could see that though the air heralding it was cold, the storm itself burned with desert heat, lashing air beneath it and burning it in molten rain with all the jungle's fiery embrace behind it. _Such a mighty storm indeed…_

Yi watched the storm roll over her, the descent of the wall of rain over the rocks protecting the oasis, and then cashing over her, a waterfall of furious energy, breaking unceasingly upon her form.

In moments only Yi was drenched completely, but she was warm, not hot and scorched as the desert had made her, but warm, as under the jungle canopy of her home, a warm rain carrying lush scents and power. It caressed her and made her feel alive again, though as it did so it brought her hopelessness to the fore once more. Still Yi spun about under those clouds, staring up into the yawning flashes of lightning.

"The storm is free, free to do anything it desires, and nothing challenges it, nothing stands in its path!" Yi cried to the heavens above, and she laughed with a manic glee, knowing nothing in that moment but the raw vigor of the storm and reveling in it, forgetting her humanity, her troubles, and her past. "Freedom is here!"

"So we have found you, rogue!" sharp was the cry, and forceful, carrying over wind and rain, great was its force.

Yi spun at the voice and she saw, standing on the rock face above, the ANBU grass ninja who had pursued her before. His seven companions appeared beside him quickly. They jumped down the face with coordinated movement, coming to stand in a loose line before her, weapons ready. Seeing them, Yi was irritated. _I was enjoying the storm_, she thought, and felt anger begin to gnaw at her once again.

The ANBU walked up toward Yi, but did not come to close, she stood at the far edge of the oasis pool, watching. They were well within range to attack her, but had not yet done so. "What at you waiting for?" Yi asked. "Strike me!"

"My mission has not changed, rogue girl," the ANBU replied. "I am to take you alive. You know now you are no match for us. Surrender now and come quietly, that way at least you life will be preserved." He spoke as if he clearly considered it a great sacrifice to spare her.

"My life?" Yi laughed. "Fool, my life is meaningless. I don't care if I live." Indeed at that moment Yi could see no reason to go on living, all her cares only piled up on her, and she saw no happiness in the future. "But I won't be captured by you! I have nothing but freedom now, like the storm, and I won't give it up!" Yi shouted the words, her voice as loud as she could make it, all but screaming at them. "Damn you all! There's nothing left for me, but I'm not your slave, not you grass bastards!"

"Then we shall take you by force," the ANBU sneered. "You are a fool."

This morning Yi would have accepted the ANBU's words, but now, with all her raw rage in her, everything she had endured finally brought out, for it was all that was left to her now, her anger, her burning, furious, flames of anger, she knew the truth. "I am a fool?" Her voice held almost nothing human now, as Yi saw the flames dancing before her eyes. The power was within her, a power she had long held, and she knew these grass ninja, who sought to tame her, to tame her blood, understood nothing. "You are the fools! Do you understand nothing of what you face? I am Mizain, wielder of Mizuho! Idiots! _It's Raining!"_

The eyes of the ANBU were hidden by masks, but the four grass ninja whose faces were exposed rewarded Yi's fury with a look of abject horror as the recognized their terrible, simple, and lethal, error.

The ANBU was the only one who thought to act, his hand flashing down for a shuriken, but it was far too slow. How can the rain be outrun?

Yi brought her hands down before her, far fingers curled, thumbs bent, and one hand in front of the other. Thunder crashed, and her hair flew up behind her, revealing her in the light of a lightning strike as a red and blue silhouette of destruction.

Power surged within Yi, power greater than she thought she had possessed, and she felt her mind merge for a second with the sky, and she cried out with the full exhalation of burning lungs. "Mizuho: Rain of Fire!"

The rain burned.

Droplet after droplet, stretching out before Yi all the way to the rock face and beyond it burned the hard great droplets of the desert storm each sheathed in its own aura of killing flame. When they struck the hard sand it sizzled and steamed, and in some places tiny motes of glass were formed.

When they struck flesh, men died.

There was nothing like it, droplet after droplet of water striking flesh, burning and burning, the flames not ending once they had struck flesh, but seeking deeper, and the bits that splash away coming to rest elsewhere on the flesh, causing their own lurid holes. The pain was unbelievable, and the eight ninja fell to the ground in seconds, for their bodies would not obey, could sense nothing but pain, pain everywhere. They tried futilely to rub the water away with the sand, but the water fell into and through sand, and reached them nonetheless. There was no escape, not should one try to run, or even conjure a shield of brambles, for the ruthless rain of fire ate everything, consuming man, land, ground, and even it seemed the air itself.

Yi held her hands together, locked in screaming rage, shouting as long as air remained in her lungs, and then standing with her mouth open, not inhaling, as the sky burned and the grass ninja were scorched away onto the bone. Only then, as her body cried out for oxygen, did she let it go, collapsing to the ground and feeling all the strength flee her, gone to the raging storm she had created.

Fires winked out then, and though the storm continued, now it was only an ordinary storm, not the fiery madness Yi had created. "What did I do? What did I do?" Yi lay crying, trying to refuse the evidence now lying before her own eyes, the still smoldering corpses before her, wreckage that had once been men. "My freedom, I have my freedom, but is it only the freedom to be a demonic monster, to make the sky burn and men, men who have done no wrong, die. These grass ninja were only trying to fulfill a mission, and yet I killed them to keep myself free. Why? Is my freedom worth so many lives?" Yi looked up into the flashing lightning of the sky, and she remembered who had brought this upon her. "Father!" She shrieked at the sky, daring it to answer her. "Why did you send me away? What is my purpose? Why must I still live?" She could find no answer, and so lay crying beneath the storm, seeking the oblivion of sleep to drive her from herself for as long as possible.


	18. Chapter 16 For What Purpose

Author's Notes: So, it's finally here, at long last the much anticipated (or so I hope) meeting between Ise and Yi. A lot of work has gone into this chapter, and its quite lengthy, so I hope it proves interesting. Also, I've managed to make good on the promise to keep the updates coming, and I hope to continue with that. So anyway, I encourage people to review, as this is a critical juncture in the story, and I hope it works out well.   
Chapter 16 – For What Purpose? 

(morning)

The desert looks different, wet. The long dunes of sand no longer held their gloss and shine, but instead were drab, empty. The landscape had changed from something brilliant in harshness to something seemingly out of place, a thing that had no right to be, the wet desert. Muddy dunes that left sand clinging to sandals and feet, hazy mist seeping upward to be burned away with the sun, runnels of water streaking down sand that rejected its wet caress, these were not things of the desert.

"What a strange thing this storm has done," Ise muttered, staring out at the changing landscape from atop the tall rocks called twin spires. "A pity it has delayed me though." He had spent the night among the high rocks, fearing the sand after the dunes had shifted and buckled under him in the rain, not wanting to challenge that sliding and quicksilver landscape by himself. "I hope I am not too late." He looked out from atop the rocks in the morning sun, and peered to the southeast, looking for the oasis. "It must be among those badlands in the distance, the rocks there could hide water." It was hardly enough of a clue, but as the water that now covered the landscape bled away in the sun Ise hoped he would be able to smell the water when he got close.

He walked for a long time, most of the day, forced to double back often in the shifted landscape, and finding no easy straight paths through the badlands. Still, with the mist present for the whole morning Ise did not mind, the rain yesterday had healed the desert's damage to his gill slits, and slicked the sand off his scaled skin, so he now felt refreshed. The mist blocked the sun well enough, and it was almost a pleasant walk this day, if not for the urgency to pull Ise on. _A strange landscape, this wet desert, but I could grow fond of if it were not so rare,_ Ise thought in a reflective moment.

It was late afternoon though, and the mist all gone, when Ise sensed what he had come to find. _Water_, his nose told him it well enough, his shark senses sharpened by the days in this desolate place, and he could sense it. _Water filled with salts, water in rock._ He could smell it, lying to the north of him. _I've gone too far,_ Ise realized, and he doubled back in a hurry, seeking out the oasis. _I hope they are still there, though surely no one would have moved in yesterday's storm_. Ise did not know whom he expected to find yet, his quarry, the grass ninja, or even other sand ninja, but he was certain he was close to the end now, one way or another. _I have been delayed, and many things must be settled now, I will find out what I must do._

The shark-blooded ninja heard the water before he saw it. A steady sound, the low gurgle of water falling free of rock, it was a welcoming one to Ise in this mostly waterless land. He hurried forward, but was as always aware of what might be around him. Still, it was with some surprise when he saw a girl rise from the water before him, rising to stand on the surface of a small pool. She took one look at him, and spoke a single word. "Stop."

Ise stopped, and examined the situation. He saw the pool, and he also saw eight things scattered before it, black and strange looking, with a horrid smell. _What in the world…_then the shark's sense told him. _Dead men, burned_. With that the situation fell into place. _So those were the grass ninja, and this girl is the Mizain._

The shark-blooded ninja gazed on his quarry for the first time. He saw the marks first, the ones Mizukage had told him of, the red hair streaked with blue, and the sharp red eyes, but he also saw past them. _An oddly beautiful girl_, Ise was surprised. _There is a sharpness to her features, but a fiery strength within, and she has a lovely face and gorgeous hair. Yet, it seems she has been crying, _Ise noted the dark circles beneath her eyes and the salty streaks running down her face. _This is the Mizain I have been sent to bring back? _He made no judgments yet.

As Ise stopped the girl looked at him strangely. Her head turned and eyes narrowed, and Ise could see the suspicion in her, raw and ragged. _She has had a hard time,_ he realized, and looking at the grass ninja's bodies he suddenly realized just how hard.

"Who are you?" she asked.

It was a simple question, but Ise considered his answer for a moment, considering the many paths he might take. He was in unknown ground here. His original mission had been to bargain with the leaders of the Mizain, or those who knew their secrets, not to capture a lone girl. Yet he knew this would likely be his only chance. He decided he might as well tell the truth, there was no use lying in the empty desert. "I am Hoshigake Ise, of the Hidden Mist Village."

"A Mist ninja?" she walked to the edge of the pool. "Come closer, five steps."

Dutifully Ise took five steps forward, bringing the two of them to a distance suitable for a real discussion. He noted now that the girl was indeed beautiful, in a harsh and lonely way, the kind of young lady who would be perfect for a statue of a sailor's widow, looking forever out to sea, a tragic figure, isolated, but strong. He also noticed that though she wore a ninja's uniform it was in the colors of no country, and she wore no forehead protector.

"So you are a Mist ninja," she blinked. "But why are you here?"

"Well, the heart of it is that I am to find you, Mizain," Ise replied evenly.

"Find me!" She was instantly defensive, and her posture changed from hesitant to ready to strike. Ise saw her fingers curl strangely; bringing the outer two fingers down. It seemed an unusual motion. Then she seemed to rethink something, and her head twitched to bore straight at him. "How do you know my family?" It was a harsh demand, and there was the promise of violence if Ise did not answer.

"I'll tell you the full story in a moment," Ise said. "But what is your name? No one else has discovered it, and the grass ninja had no kind names for you."

"I don't deserve kind names," she replied sadly, and Ise watched the strength seem to fade out of her almost totally. "I suppose it doesn't matter anymore. My name is Mizain Yi."

"Mizain Yi, very well," Ise committed the name to memory. "Mizain Yi, on the orders of Mizukage, leader of all ninja of Hidden Mist I am charged with bringing one of your family with me to join the Mist ninja. I believe you are the one to fulfill that mission."

"No!" the response was so immediate and so filled with raw emotion Ise almost stepped back. As he watched he saw tears come down Yi's face. "I'm not going to be a captive!"

"That's not what I said," Ise told her hastily. "You would be a ninja of Mist, it has been determined your talents could be of aid to us, but you would not be a captive, you would be a ninja."

Yi looked away for a moment, and then spoke almost to herself; at least, Ise thought he would have been unlikely to hear if he relied on a normal man's hearing. "Father, I had almost forgotten, this is the purpose you sent me away for isn't it, to go with the Mist ninja? But I won't be your captive either, no, I won't. I've paid too much for my freedom to give it up."

"Freedom?" Ise turned the word over in his mouth as if it were poisonous, even as Yi looked up at him in shock that she had been overheard. "Ninja are never truly free. We have the freedom of the self, but freedom comes through service. You cannot be free without loyalty. Not if you are a ninja." Ise said the words firmly, the lesson his uncle had taught him. "Besides, to bloodlines like us, freedom is an illusion, something denied us."

"Bloodlines like us?" it was an accusation.

"Apologies," Ise replied. "I'd forgotten." He brought his hands together and dispelled the henge mask.

As the smoke of dissipated chakra cleared Ise expected to see a look of revulsion on Yi's face, as everyone who saw him for the first time did, but what he saw surprised him, for her eyes held only curiosity. There was no horror in Yi's gaze; in fact Ise saw her looking at him with some desperation. "Freedom is an illusion? You would know the truth. I can see it. You have seen the world, right? Lived among other ninja. Is it really an illusion? Please, don't say that."

That sadness unnerved Ise, for he knew it, it was the same cry that plagued him, the maddening unfairness of being born with a bloodline. _Here at last, this girl understands, we are seeking the same answers_. He felt like the worst man on earth for what he said next. "There is no freedom for us, or if there is, it is only as monsters. I won't be a monster, I'll give up the freedom do be my own master if loyalty can hold me human. There is only a place for us if we serve, and without a place we are nothing, but I think you already know that."

"No," Yi whispered, and shook her head. "No, I don't believe it.' She was no longer speaking directly to Ise. "I don't believe that, and I won't go back with you, you won't take me back."

"I cannot allow that," Ise replied, terribly sad. "I must obey my orders and try to take you back, even against your wishes."

"Fool!" Yi shouted. "You think you can! Don't you see the bodies of the eight grass ninja I killed? Do you think you can succeed where they failed?"

The remark would have been far more biting had Ise not already figured out the answer to that particular puzzle. "Unlike them, I know what I face," He told her. "It is not raining today." He spun his spear around in his right hand, and fell back into a fighting crouch, the sharp head extended forward. "I don't want to fight you," Ise told her with regret. "But I will complete my mission; it is all I can do."

"So that is what you believe then," Yi snapped back. "Fine, fight me, prove you can beat me, show me that you're right." Her hands moved slowly through a sequence of seals, and she stepped back to stand over the center of the pool. "Beat me, and I'll go with you! Lose, and you die like the others!" she cried out in a voice that hardly seemed her own, so raw it was with brutal anger.

Ise nodded, waiting for her move.

Yi's seal sequence completed and her right arm shot forward, palm out. "Crashing Spray no jutsu!"

A wall of water surged toward Ise, and with only one more word it became something far more dangerous. "Mizuho," Yi spoke and the water burned.

Ise saw the Mizuho for the first time, that lurid red flame atop the blast of spray, a thing impossible and unearthly, something that should not be, water become fire. In that moment Ise, understanding the nature of water in a way Yi's previous opponents had not, grasped the central lethality of Mizuho. _It requires no force to kill; a single drop could be lethal. There is no way to dodge._

One moment to determine. One moment to react. The shark-blooded ninja flashed through seals of his own, drawing on chakra held ready in anticipation of Yi's attack. "Water Wall no jutsu!"

The burning blast of crashing spray met a solid wall of blue water a foot before Ise. Water smashed into water, and the blasts canceled each other out. Burning water splashed everywhere, but only to the side, it did not pass beyond the barrier of Ise's water wall. The moment the blast died Ise slid right, rolling over the sand and coming up to throw twin shuriken in his left hand.

Yi sidestepped across the pond and struck the shuriken aside with a kunai.

"Not so easy!" Ise shouted as he circled right, considering his next move. "I am not like the others, water is not my enemy."

Seeing this Yi's face widened in shock for an instant, before the impulse was crushed down beneath anger. "Then you will see my true power!" Water flowed up over her body, coating every surface with a thin translucent layer.

Ise watched in surprise. _What is she doing?_

Yi brought her hands together, both in the crooked seal of Mizuho, touching fingertip-to-fingertip index fingers pointed to the sky. "Mizuho: Burning Liquid Skin!"

"By the sea…" Ise whispered, as the coating of water caught fire over Yi, her body covered in a liquid barrier of death dealing power.

As Yi stepped forward the water moved with her, and when she reached down to her weapons, that coating flowed over them. Yi grasped three shuriken, and her face, distorted into a demonic visage by the flames, broke into a hellish grin, split as wide as her head. Then she threw them.

Mizuho did not lend itself to a normal throwing technique, instead Yi threw so the shuriken spun in three dimensions, spinning off streams of burning water from each of their eight star points, creating a death dealing field of flaming liquid in all the air they traveled through.

Ise watched their approach, and decided on his own counter strategy. _I'm not going to just sit here and block._ He could feel the shark's urging behind him, find and opening and strike. _Now!_

Fiery droplets spiraled through the air, seeking anything they might, hungry to find a surface and burn in. Ise, running right, tossed his spear into his left hand, placing it between him and Yi. He spun it in his hand once, and then tossed it into the air, even as he struck his feet into the packed sand hard, jamming his sandals and bringing his hands together in seals. His body still faced away from Yi, but he turned his face into the space between them, the spinning torrents of water just about to reach him.

It was an innate reaction; he did not even have to think to channel the chakra to his legs even as he brought his hands together. "Shark's Spit Missiles!"

The great blast of shark teeth cut into the air, the tiny razor edges numerous enough to match the many droplets of water, and to cut through the incoming stream and shuriken. Shark teeth's do not burn swiftly, and even as water droplets set them aflame they continued on their streaking paths to strike in a Yi.

_Now, she must block_, Ise waited for his opportunity, grabbed his spear out of the air, and made ready to strike from above.

Shark's teeth, tiny brutal serrated edges, all aflame and startling now, a buzzing cloud of black-red fury in the air, screamed in to hit Yi's body.

The Mizain stood there, and the shark's teeth struck the shield of water. Hit it, slowed, and, all their force dissipated, fell softly to the water's surface. Yi's head jerked up to stare straight at Ise, her eyes wild beneath their glossy cover. "Water Element: Sea's Torpedoes!"

_Bad!_ Ise realized he was in trouble as the pond boiled and spat forth a quintet of watery spears, burning and furious. He knew this technique, and what it would do. Arcing through the air he was unbelievably vulnerable to those missiles that would track and burst apart. He changed plans in near panic. _I have one trick that can save me_. His left hand slid down the spear haft, finding the catch and pulling it loose, as he whipped his spear across before him, making use of his provision of the day before.

Ise had left his spear exposed during the long rain, and water had seeped into the gaps between each of the wooden segments, preserved and compressed into small disks of liquid, a surprise he absolutely required now. "Great Water Razors!" Massive buzzsaws of water surged forth, as tall as a man, fueled by strength Ise barely knew he had, but drawn forth in the face of that burning danger, the shark in him refusing to die yet.

Buzzsaws impacted burning torpedoes, and blasted away with tremendous concussive force. Water from the pond surged up and over Yi, protecting her from harm.

Ise was thrown back, slamming into the ground some distance away. He slid across the sand, his tough scaly skin scrapped and all the breath driven from his body. He rolled to his feet gasping and with blurred vision, but he forced himself to move. _Standing still is death!_ He recovered swiftly, and he was furious with himself as he saw Yi, still encased in that watery cocoon, unharmed. _I underestimated that technique. But how can I get around it? The water beneath her will defend her from any distance technique, and if I get close she'll burn me to ash._ His mind roved desperately as he ran spinning and rolling in case Yi decided to attack him.

_She is hesitating, why?_ Ise wondered. _Perhaps she doesn't want to kill me? No, I cannot bet on such a thing, maybe she simply has no good technique for this range._ He believed he was likely safe as long as he stayed away, but Ise knew that was no solution. _In time she can simply charge me, and I must attack, but how? _It was clear enough that his water jutsus would not work as an attack, and all his shark based techniques were taijutsu maneuvers, and all but useless against such armor, even with his spear's reach. _Her only vulnerability is the water; I need to attack from below, but how?_ Then he realized what he could do.

"Why do you keep running?" Yi called with mocking laughter. "Why don't you come and face death?"

"A shark does not go to death without his jaws clamped down!" Ise called back, knowing what he must do. He had never done it before, but he knew it was possible, it was one of the many things he knew he could do, he knew as the shark's voice had grown in him._ I can do this, I will, but it will cost me_. Ise knew that, he reached back into himself, felling the shark essence swimming in the core of his being, locked in the sea of his blood, and he called on it now, more directly than he ever had before, demanding the allegiance of his blood.

"Enough!" Yi screamed. "Die! Windblown Spray no jutsu!" She slammed her feet into the pool's surface, blasting water into the air and calling wind to take it over the land before her. It was normally a technique suitable only to obscure vision and spread water about a battlefield. Aided by Mizuho it created a deadly cloud of water to immolate everything within it.

_I needed a distraction anyway…_Ise thought with a mind only partly his own now, the rest had joined with some far more primordial, a force far more ancient than anything of man, something that nevertheless regarded the power of Mizuho as hideously unnatural and spurred it to rage. "Water element: Wave Blast no jutsu!" The attack brought out a widespread surge of water before Ise, running behind the wave's crest, but it was a deception. He had husbanded his chakra carefully, even as he drew upon reserves he had not known he possessed. The wave blast was weak, its force minor, but it was enough to sweep through that effect of Mizuho, and Ise rolled in behind it, charging straight at Yi.

Wave met spray and water covered all for an instant, obscuring vision, confusing hearing, and making everything impossible to know, but Ise was only going straight.

Spray cleared a moment later, and Ise's right foot slammed into the rock escarpment marking the edge of the pool. He scraped his left hand over the scales of his right forearm, striking hard enough to draw tiny runnels of blood. Then he brought his hands together and slammed them down to that stone just as Yi leaped to strike him down with flaming limbs.

"Summoning no jutsu!"

For a moment everything stood frozen, as Yi streaked in over the pool to burn the completely open Ise away and chakra marked with blood streaked out through the stone.

Then it made contact with the water.

The pool burst outward from beneath, and Yi was seized by a massive form that slammed through her, a form caring nothing for the singeing it received from the touch of Mizuho, a form that came on upwards until gravity finally pulled it back down.

It was a shark, smashing Yi's body with its nose, and slamming her against cruel jaws, moving to bite down.

"Don't kill her!" Ise cried desperately.

Crashing down to the pool now, the shark shook its head and jerked Yi out, smashing her into the ground. She lay there, water and saliva slowly dripping off of her, dazed, and confused.

Ise was next to her in an instant, rolling her over.

She looked up at him in surprise, and extended her right arm feebly, not really seeing.

The shark-blooded ninja took the Mizain's hand in a strong and steady grip, and pulled her gently into a sitting position.

"You!" it was not really a voice, more an expression of harsh emotion given words.

Ise turned to see that it was the great shark, lying in the dispersed water of the oasis pool, which had spoken.

"Why have you brought me to this blasted wasteland little child?" the shark's voice, if it could be called that, was full of an unquenchable destructive thirst, a refined need for killing. "And you have stolen from me the kill of victory. What gives you the right to deny me, the expression of your blood?" The voice called Ise to horrible account, for there was something in it that demanded satisfaction from him, a demand he could not ignore.

"I required you for my mission!" Ise shouted back, as loud as he could, trying out of some innate need to attempt to equal the shark's mighty voice. "I am a ninja, and I can call upon all of my gifts when it is required of me, and you have no rights over me! Being a ninja supersedes blood!"

The shark's cold eyes, cloudy mirrors of Ise's own, focused in upon him carefully. Its great jaws opened and closed, driving water to leak out before it into the sand. Then it laughed. "Ha he he he. You have a strong will, little ninja. Best you keep it, for there is no bargain between us, forget, and you will belong to us." It laughed again, a sound deep and cruel, promising only death, revealing the shark as a thing utterly lacking in mercy or care for others, predator only. Then it vanished, slowly fading back to whatever fearful ocean from whence it came.

The force of adrenaline and fear, all that had supported Ise since he used the last of his chakra in the summoning, left him, and he fell back on the sand, empty.

"You're a shark…" It was whispered softly, in a voice Ise barely recognized. He looked up behind him to see the drenched countenance of Mizain Yi, looking at him with a strange combination of few and awe. "I was right, you do know the truth."

It took a moment for Ise to see it, with all the water streaming down Yi's face. _She's crying_. Tears poured down the girl's face without stopping, and she sobbed weakly.

"You know the truth, there is no freedom for us," the sadness in her voice was infecting. Ise had never seen a girl break down before him like this, and he was concerned. "No freedom, so everyone I hurt, everyone I killed, it was all pointless. Pointless!" Yi howled at the sky. "I am a murderer, there's no reason, why? Why this way?"

Ise looked at Yi as she collapsed with her head in her hands. _I have to do something. This is the girl I came to find. _Ise knew that for certain, he had seen her power, and her great strength, for he knew her chakra was not used up even now. _She is the same as me in so many ways, but she has no anchor as I do. What is there I can do?_

For a long while Ise simply sat there, heart troubled, as Yi cried into her hands, looking for anything he could do. Finally, impulsively, he lifted her chin with his hand. "Look at me," he told her.

Yi looked up at him, and Ise was struck by her face. Its sharp beauty shattered by the destruction of her tears. She peered into his cold shark eyes, seeking desperately for something, and Ise knew she could not find it there. Seeking to fill the moment, he spoke. "I won, which means, as we agreed, that you will come back to Mist with me."

"Yes, but what does it matter?" Her voice was utterly devoid of hope now.

In that moment Ise recognized his own voice, his own thoughts after he killed the grass ninja by the river, and then he understood the situation. Even as he did so, he recalled something, held beneath his flack jacket, a thing the Warlord had sent him forth with on the very first day, and he knew the time to use it had come.

"It matters more than anything else," Ise spoke softly to Yi, reaching into his flak jacket. "By ourselves you are right, it is meaningless, and our sins pile up to drown us all, but, a ninja is different, our sins are not our own, they are a part of the inheritance of a whole world, the necessity of our actions."

Yi was listening to him very carefully, and Ise knew that his words, though clumsy, held her attention, even if she was not convinced. Then he took that thing from his flak jacket and placed it in Yi's hand. "And now, you are a ninja once again."

She looked down and saw what Ise had placed there, a piece of cloth with a plate of metal attached, marked with four waving lines: a forehead protector of the Hidden Village of Mist.

Tears in her eyes once again, Yi looked up at Ise, and it seemed she peered through him and past him in that moment, weighing everything upon her. "Are you certain?" she whispered, and if not for the shark touch upon his ears Ise would not have heard.

He merely nodded.

Slowly and carefully Yi wound the cloth around her head, and tied it tight, bringing the metal piece to rest solidly on her brow. "Thank you," she told him softly when they were done. "Finally I have somewhere to go."


	19. Interlude 2 Weight of the Past

**Author's Notes: **My, I'm cruising through things now. I doubt it will continue like this, but for the moment, enjoy the next chapter. I'll leave Ise and Yi having just met and go back to mist again for a moment, with the second of the Interlude chapters. Though it might be a distraction from the main storyline, there's some very important stuff in here, and using Saki as the vehicle I will reveal a lot of the stuff that causes Ise to think the way he does, so it is important.

As an additional note, there is some very, very, dark and twisted stuff in this chapter. I caution, look at Mizukage's story very carefully, and understand that I do not share or advocate in any way his kind of views. The real world does not contain people born with tainted superpowers or anything of the kind, and this is meant to be entirely fiction.

Thanks to all reviewers and a few responses to encourage more:

Meggido: thanks for the dedication, I appreciate it, honestly.

EvilP: Yeah, I suppose the philosophy stuff has been a little heavy handed, and fair warning, there will be some more of it as things go on, but ultimately that's a lot of what this story is about. Also, I'm going to some length to emphasize this stuff very starkly simply to contrast it with the extraordinarily lovey-dovey philosophy of the actual Naruto (which I am extremely irritated with by this time) so some of it is my aggravation as an author slipping in.

Disclaimer: I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.

**Interlude 2 – The Weight of the Past**

Steel struck steel with that distinctive clang typical of battles everywhere. It was followed by a sliding, gnashing noise as metal ran against metal, sliding when it could not cut past.

The noise ended, broken apart beneath the nearly-silent shuffling of feet at great speed, then rang again, and again once more, repeating time after time. It was a hellish chorus, completely lacking in rhythm, for the moments of contact were utterly unpredictable, and their timing alien and otherworldly. It hurt the ears of anyone listening, and the mind ruthlessly tried and failed to make those moments conform to some sense of timing, the brain not accepting this maddening lack of pattern.

It was freakish, disturbing, a true shock to hear for the first time, but it was also hellishly impressive.

Each sound was indicative of an attack, a strike by the weapons of one ninja against another, blade to blade, poised with killing force and lethal intent. It was a strange chorus, accompanied by blurred visuals even the most trained eye had difficulty following, for the movements triggering these strikes were impossible to accept and categorize using normal expectations. This battle tore down preconceptions and broke asunder the possible in human motion. In many ways only half the battle was human, the part played by the other combatant was something very different, and far fiercer indeed.

Such was the combat between the Warlord Akai and his trainee Stomatoa Saki that Mizukage watched under the bright autumn sky.

Saki moved through the dunes a blur, never stopping, never predictable, her very nature propelling her in a way alien to humans, indeed to all mammals. Speed and strength uncanny for a ninja of her age and experience backed up her alien motion to transform her sequence of strikes into frightful snapshots of impossible angles and forces. Her weapons were strange devices strapped to the wrists, surrounding the hand in four sharp and deadly tines, turning the hand into a weapon upon all sides, but while her hands carried the stabbing and deadly metal weapons, the rest of her body was no less capable of striking with punishing force.

Akai opposed Saki holding his great waved-edged sword, a weapon fully taller than his young opponent by more than a foot. His own form dwarfed her equally so, and that blade flashed about with perfect practice and speed. Coursing through the air with the swift shifting edge of a living wave, it was able to cover every direction as he moved and to cut a man in two with a one-handed blow.

Neither held the advantage.

The Warlord was indeed able to do little more than defend, struggling to continuously block those impossible strikes, unable to predict them even with his now substantial experience with the style. The best he could do was force himself to forget all he knew of battling other men, and react only as the conditions presented themselves, for to anticipate the Stomatoa was to make a terrible mistake. He relied on the long years of training and battle to move his sword with the speed and strength necessary. Despite this, Saki repeatedly came close to landing a crippling strike, and Akai was not holding back, it took all his sword skill to keep pace with her.

Of course, it was clear to all participants and the observer that Akai was not truly fighting. His blade was not designed for such quick strikes as this, but to be used as a spinning monstrosity, cutting through all defenses, and the Warlord had not used any of his unbelievably destructive jutsus, so he was hamstrung for this battle. Regardless, it was something of a struggle for the Mizukage, watching the battle, to appear unsurprised.

Finally Saki came in low, and the Warlord, instead of blocking the strike, slammed the flat of his blade into the ground, hard enough to shock the soil for a moment, causing a single misstep. Saki reacted almost instantly, spinning into the air using her knees to launch her into a jump.

Akai could not have predicted the reaction, but he didn't need to, for he spun in a complete loop, taking the wide flat of his sword around with him, covering the whole airspace. Saki was thrown sprawling to the ground.

Lunging, the Warlord came down over the small girl, and pressed the edge of his blade to her throat. He only barely made it in time, even though he had started the move even before Saki had landed. The girl's hands were already under her, ready to spin out in one of the impossible, elbow propelled jumps she could use. "You're dead." Akai hissed.

Saki nodded, and stood up slowly. She was not even breathing hard, but evenly, and her perspiration was minimal. Instead, Akai noted her limbs were twitching, one of the eerie alien signs that she was tired, her differences from normal went beyond simply how she fought and moved.

"Consider carrying through the move unbalanced and simply slamming your opponent when you're blocked unconventionally like that, you might have been able to get inside my range and kick the sword away if you did that." Akai advised Saki. "Of course, you shouldn't do the same attack twice, even with variation, if you can help it, but that is the nature of these practice scenarios."

"Yes Warlord," Saki replied, her voice soft, but empty of feeling, clinical, and Akai knew she would indeed consider his advice, likely she would try the new approach the next time, and execute it in some unanticipated way that succeeded in not simply depriving him of one weapon, but inflicting a severe wound as well. _This girl adapts with incredible speed_, Akai had learned. _Always improving, she has no limits built about her, and if she fails at something she simply attacks it with more and more furious effort until she inevitably succeeds. She would be dangerous regardless, but her rapid improvement is frightful in entirely another way. _He looked down at her, noting again the strange blue-purple discolorations at some points on her skin. _She says they are not bruises, and I've checked, but what is happening with her skin? _It was a puzzle Akai intended to solve, for it was clear something was happening to Saki, something her family had resisted telling him. _Perhaps Mizukage can persuade them._ That was part of the reason why he'd asked his lord to observe this match, beyond simply showcasing Saki's progress. She was at a critical stage, her peak rate of improvement, and Akai wished Mizukage to observe before she leveled off.

"We are done for the day here," Akai told Saki. "But before you go, Mizukage would like to speak with you."

"Yes Warlord," the same toneless answer as before, the emptiness Akai was certain was only partly inherent. _There is still a young girl somewhere in her; I must make certain it does not reemerge at the wrong time. The Mantis Shrimp is the weapon, not the human._

Akai sheathed his massive blade and departed, silently wishing Mizukage luck in probing the shielded and inscrutable confines of the Stomatoa mind.

"You are not too tired I presume?" Mizukage asked Saki, standing up and walking toward her.

"No, Mizukage," Saki answered simply. "I am accustomed to such training."

"Indeed," he looked at her darkly. "I hear you fight Akai every day."

"Yes, unless his duties forbid it, and one of the others of the Seven as well, so long as they are not all on missions," Saki's voice never changed, though hundreds of ninja in many countries would have found it impossible to believe her statement.

Mizukage took it in stride. "Seven," he scowled. The Mizukage of Mist did not have a pleasant face, it was marred by a raw lightning burn scar over his mouth and the left side of his chin, a ragged white mark appearing as a slash across his face, and his eyes held a constant, tormented agony, the eyes of a man who has seen and done things no man should. When he scowled few could meet his gaze, but Saki, whose face was harmless and young, though toned from long training, seemed to look through and past all that, weighing it as if human concerns meant nothing to her. "Seven," he repeated. "It is funny we still say that, it is not Seven anymore. Five now, since I set aside my place among them to make room for the boy Zabusa, since the Kage should not be part of such a thing. He left, and Kisame as well, two of my mistakes, held still in that number, seven, ha." He looked to Saki to see what she thought, but though the girl was paying attention, she appeared to have no reaction at all. "Come with me back to me office, I cannot spare the time here, but we will talk on the way."

"As you wish."

_Akai was right,_ Mizukage thought, _this girl is something else in every way, but does that make her flawed? Or perfect?_ It was a conundrum they would not solve until the test came, and then might be too late. _We must try to learn what we can now, such is the fruitless task of those who lead ninja, to try and predict the future._

They walked silently for a moment, another oddity for Mizukage. Never before, upon meeting a young ninja one-on-one for the first time, had they failed to ask him something, some inevitably random thing. Saki volunteered nothing, so he began the conversation himself. "I was impressed by your display today. Rarely could anyone even twice your age match so closely against Akai."

"I have trained to use my abilities to their fullest," Saki answered. "Do not all ninja strive to maximize their skill?"

"Yes, most at least, though rarely with such…dedication as you display, and many have talents well below your own," Mizukage replied, slightly amused by her earnest honesty.

"I am what my father made me," Saki remarked, her tone not changing, but the comment revealing much.

_At last, a clue_, Mizukage thought, recognizing the importance of this statement. He would ask Akai about it later, but already it provided him a key insight to Saki's hidden true psyche, and he actually felt somewhat sympathetic for her. _Still, no matter how horrible, I will not shrink from destroying whatever humanity you have girl. You are a weapon, and I will use you to the utmost. Such are the burdens I inherited_. In response he said. "The past has a great influence on us all?"

"The past?" Saki looked up at him. "The past is something…troubling to me. I do not understand our history very well. It makes…little sense to me." Those slight pauses in Saki's speech, so very uncharacteristic of her, told Mizukage almost as much as her words.

"If you have some questions, ask me now, I bear much of the responsibility for the past here," s_uch are my burdens, my sins, and the price I pay_, he remembered, sadly, but without regret.

"The Warlord said you changed the world, Mizukage. I would understand how that happened," not truly a question, it was likely as close as Saki would come to one.

"Changed the world, heh," Mizukage chuckled, a chuckle laced with sadness and old wounds. "Akai has developed a greater flair for drama than I remembered, but yes, I suppose I did change the world in a way, at least, our world, the ninja world." He sighed. "Yes, changed the world, a little, not a much as I should have, but perhaps it was enough."

"I do not understand," Saki told him, interrupting the dark musings.

Mizukage stopped then, standing there among the dunes. He made a decision then, regarding the importance of this strange girl, whose mind seemed as impossibly different as her body. _I will take the time I must for this. Other business can wait._ He sat down in the sand of the dunes and motioned for Saki to sit as well, which she did, in that strange and awkward position her altered muscles forced her to adopt.

"You are aware, I assume, that you are asking about a very dark chapter of the history of this country, and other countries as well, but it began here?" He asked, assessing her certainty, her awareness of this troubling subject. "Of what happened twenty years ago, when I became Mizukage? Of the purges?"

Saki only nodded.

"Aaah," Mizukage sighed. "So I thought," his face grew terribly grim. "It is not a pleasant thing to recall, the things of that time, and most people, knowing what they do of them, fear me, and others such as Akai. We are marked because of those terrible days, and rightly so, for we are dammed because of it."

Saki said nothing.

"Akai has told you something of the world of the ninja before my time I know," Mizukage continued. "Of a world where those who bore bloodlines were the only rulers and all others were as dust beneath them."

She nodded again.

"Good, then you will understand that the situation could not continue, it would have to change in time, for it could not be sustained, but the bonds of loyalty, holding men such as Akai back from the unacceptable treason of rebellion kept the system sustained for far too long. It took a catalyst to bring it down, an opportunity that would bring all the grievances forth," Mizukage looked deep into Saki's eyes, trying to bore into her being, but finding nothing but empty vision, a blur of color. He blinked and moved on, voice low, serious. "I was that catalyst. Realize that if not me, it would have been another, somewhere, in some village, it was inevitable, the bloodlines created it, brought it out. Still, I was the cause, and the blame for what follows lies upon my soul."

"You likely know, Saki, that in this village, candidates for Kage are chosen by right of battle. That any jounin may compete to be the leader of the village when the time comes. Perhaps it is not the best system, but I believe the ninja know who is a suitable choice, and the choice of candidates is thus controlled. Yet, in the world dominated by bloodlines, only they emerged as candidates for the position of Kage, no others could hope to compete against them, and anyone who even seemed capable would be sent on suicide missions so they had no chance."

"When the old Kage died, twenty years ago, I was still a relatively young jounin, and though I was strong, I was not the strongest. I had not even considered challenging for Kage, until Akai came to me and explained that none but those who bore bloodlines were training for it. He, and others, told me that we were all doomed should another bloodline bearer become Kage, and they were right, there is nothing more true than that. It was not my idea at first, but I wondered how any of us who had no bloodline could beat them. It would take something no one else knew, a technique of great power and novelty, something no one else could match.

Somehow, Akai or someone else convinced me to derive such a technique, and I succeeded in it. I succeeded, and entered as a challenger. The bloodlines tried to forbid it of course, and it came to blows even then," Mizukage paused. "The first casualty of the purges was not even a bloodline, but an un-blooded chuunin member of one of their clans, who tried to kill me as I entered the arena. The second was the man I killed to become Mizukage."

"Know well, that though I inherited and accept the sins I bear for the purges, for what was done, it was not I who started it. Other villages claim I led a 'rebellion.' That is a flat lie," he spat. "I became Mizukage by right; it was the bloodlines that rebelled, refusing to acknowledge it, claiming I cheated. Treachery has only one solution, death, among ninja, that is the only way. They were the traitors, an en masse rebellion by almost all members of the bloodlines, and many of those who foolishly supported them. What followed has become known as the purges, for it was the bloodlines who were purged, but in the beginning they intended to destroy me and all who accepted my victory."

"The battles that followed were brutal, terrible, Mist ninja versus Mist ninja, over our own land, in our own village, with no innocents on the side. Those who fought with me faired poorly at first, for we could not rally many to our side, until Akai conceived of the seven swordsmen, and I made the devil's bargain, sparing the Hoshigake so Kisame stood with us, and his family survived. The seven best swordsmen in Mist, you have met them all, save Kisame the Great Traitor, and Yashimoto, who died when you were an infant. We rallied all those who had suffered under the bloodlines, and tore through them, sparing none who bore a bloodline beyond those families who had acknowledged my victory, and those like the Mizain who fled beyond our reach."

"It was a bloody time, and I did things for which I will not be forgiven, for the battle was won long before the purges were stopped. Such was the choice I made, mine and mine alone, to pursue the matter until as many of the bloodlines were dead as possible, genin lost and leaderless, and more, even young children and infants, all who bore the bloodline powers, all who might become ninja some day. We exterminated them, killed them all, offering no mercy and no quarter, until all had vanished from our scope. I have all that blood upon my soul, for I took those lives myself with my sword, or using others as my weapon, but still it was my choice."

"But I was not wrong!" Mizukage's voice rose now, losing its sadness, and filled with a fiery resolve. "I am dammed, but I do not regret the decision. I do not, indeed, I regret only not going far enough, allowing the purges to spread of their own accord to other countries, but not insuring their success there, not hunting down well enough those who had fled, and making bargains with those bloodlines I could not destroy. I completed it to the best of my resolve, but when all the enemies were gone we could not maintain the bloodlust, and so it was not completed. Still, even as it was the world was changed. The back of the bloodlines was broken, their strength seeped away, never to reach great heights again in the ninja villages, and indeed most have fallen in strength and numbers since. It had to be done, and though innocents died, it bettered the world, bettered the ninja, it was necessary! Bloodlines are not a blessing, they are a crutch, a weakness that bring the ninja to rest on inborn talents that rip away humanity and replace it with power not your own. It is not right that they should be, and so they must be destroyed, for those who bear the power of bloodlines cannot be considered truly human, they are something else, something tainted by powers from beyond this world. So I purged them, cut away the tumor as much as I could reach, and I pray that it will simply die back and fade now, and not reemerge, but if it does I'll cut it away again. I will bear those sins, black is my blood and dammed is my soul, but if that is required of me to serve this country and those ninja in my care, then I will do so. Do you understand?"

"Entirely," Saki whispered, and Mizukage, looking at her again for the first time in much of his terrible story, saw that yes, she did indeed understand, there was something in her that knew what a loss it was to bear a bloodline. _After all, he thought, this girl bears no bloodline power, but in her the transformation has been if anything more complete and deliberate than almost any bloodline. It is good that she retains enough to understand, perhaps that is just enough._

"I am sorry to have taken so much of your time with this viscous story, but you should know just what I have done. I will not hide my sins, I have dammed myself to bring about a better future, and there is no justification for what I have done, no forgiveness, but I did it anyway, because it had to be done. I hope you never come to find yourself making the same choice, but if you do, you must make it, for we, as ninja, are the only ones who can." Mizukage stood. "Now come, we must hurry back to the village. I wonder, how fast can you run?"

"Fast," Saki replied, and the informal race was on.


	20. Chapter 17 Mirrored Tread

**Author's Notes: **Okay, new chapter. It's been a little while since I posted the last ones, sorry, but I have gotten some good work done in the meantime. This chapter, and d the next couple that follow it, will be a little slow paced. However, it's all leading up for a breakneck run to the finish, so please stick around.

Thanks to all reviewers, and hopes for more!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.

**Chapter 17 – Mirrored Tread**

(the next morning)

Yi awoke with a start, a shudder, and a sensation of a light shaking. It was only after she had sat bolt upright in near terror that she realized she was simply being shaken awake from her sleep. Her eyes opened to see a strange face, one so shocking she could not fail to lurch back a moment. It was a frightful face, blue-scaled skin wrapped around a viscous mouth filled with cutting needle-teeth and whose eyes were empty and murky, lacking color or even white. A moment later Yi recalled the events of the day before, and knew who she was seeing. _Hoshigake Ise_, she thought, and now she noticed the saddened look in his eyes. It took Yi a moment to recognize it, and when she did she felt deeply ashamed. He did not like my reaction, she felt terrible for it. _His is such an honest face_, Yi thought, feelings churning and mixed. _He wears the reality of his existence openly, hiding nothing, revealing what he is to the world, whereas I live behind lying flesh, shielded from my own mistakes by a normal face._

Ise looked at Yi, and, recognizing that she was awake, let go of her shoulder. "Ninja should by rights be awake before dawn, but I will make an allowance this time given the harsh circumstances," he said, voice matter-of-fact, a ninja going about his business with the seriousness it deserved.

Yi, looking up, saw that it was some time past dawn already, the sun rising low in the desert sky. Watching Ise she realized that he had been awake for some time, for he was armed and ready to face the day, while she remained a mess after collapsing in emotional exhaustion the night before. Subconsciously Yi reached up and touched her forehead, feeling the metal piece hanging there, still tied to her head. The forehead protector meant nothing by itself of course, it was only a symbol, but Yi ran her hand over it with deep longing, confirming that it was not just a dream. Metal and cloth, the simple thing with its four wave mark carried far more than a symbol of identity; it offered to her the promise of redemption, denied so long, to bring back hope into her worthless life.

Recalling the moment of the day before, of the tall shark ninja reaching out and passing the forehead protector to her, Yi forced tears from her eyes, and she turned so Ise would not see, pretending to gather together her meager belongings. _With this I might, just might, be able to keep living._

She said nothing of this to Ise, but instead remarked. "How is it you get to decide when we should wake for the day?"

"He," Ise barked out an aborted laugh, a strange sound that sent shivers up Yi's spine, for it reminded her of the shark the day before, the creature that had burst through her skin of Mizuho and almost snapped her apart. She could still feel those massive teeth against her skin, and it made her nervous. _I do not trust myself; can I trust one who is at heart such a creature? _Yi wondered, but immediately felt disgusted for doubting, looking at Ise as he stared off into the desert sunrise. _How dare I doubt him? He knows me better than I know myself, his powers make him the same as me, but he has solved this madness, I am sure of it._

"I get to decide," Ise told her. "Because I outrank you."

"Huh?"

Ise turned and tapped Yi in the forehead protector with a long, blue-skinned finger. "Well, oh newest Mist ninja, I am a chuunin, and you, you are only a genin. So, even if you are stronger than me, I still outrank you. Besides, this is my mission, so I will take the responsibility for giving the orders here."

Yi shot Ise a glance filled with suspicion. "I haven't suddenly become a tool you can order around at will," she said it with some sharpness, but she could sense that he had meant nothing of the kind, and the remark was light-hearted, the first thing Yi had said in such a way in many days.

It did not make Ise's answer any less important. "Of course not, but in a crisis you must accept my right to make decisions."

"You are the chuunin," Yi replied, warming to Ise's style of working quickly enough.

"Good," Ise replied, and he looked Yi up and down. "It seems you are ready to go, but we have a decision to make."

"What decision?"

"We have to decide where to go," Ise said evenly, and Yi felt as if she had been struck across the face with his spear. She had lived without a real plan for some time, and now it came a great shock to hear such a thing, and she suddenly realized she did not know where she was, and remained stranded at a desert oasis in a hostile country. _Mist is far, far away,_ Yi recalled, remembering lessons in geography. _My journey is not over._ Such a thought did not make her happy. _Do I have the will to keep on going? Can you support me, shark ninja?_ She wondered, looking at Ise, trying to measure the resolve in that strange open and closed face.

"Aren't we going back to Hidden Mist?" Yi asked.

Ise shook his head. "It is not that simple. Mist is a long journey, and it is almost winter now, beyond this desert. It makes things more difficult to determine."

"Why should winter matter?" Yi did not quite see what he was getting at.

"We cannot go back through grass. It would be impossible to deal with the ninja hunting you," he paused. "And me as well by now I'm sure, during the winter. I do not know the route south through the desert, so that is not an option."

"Why not go east through Fire country?" Yi asked, since the seemed the most obvious path to her.

"The Warlord Akai, who gave me this mission, warned me against the Fire country, so I do not want to go that way," Ise replied. "Besides, we'd have to go east through the desert of sand, and I do not know that route either."

"What are the options then?" Yi wondered, trying, unsuccessfully, to imagine a map of the ninja countries in her mind. "My knowledge is somewhat lacking," she admitted.

Ise took his spear and drew marks in the sand. "We are here in the sand country," He drew a large circle. "Mist is almost directly to the east of us," he drew a circle far in that direction. "But can be reached only by sea," a squiggly line formed the shoreline of other countries. "Fire country takes up most of the shore, but there are ports in the north, in Sound country, from where I came."

"So how do we get there?" Yi asked, still wondering what Ise's route was to be.

"We have to go north, through Rain country and Waterfall country, and then across the barren Sound country."

"Can that be done?" Yi asked, curious. "It seems the long way around."

"It is not so far," Ise answered, though there was no certainty in his voice. "I do worry though, that the grass ninja will not give up this chase." He looked at Yi, and she saw the concern in his eyes, the uncertainty, and the fear to fail. "I looked at the bodies this morning, four of these were ANBU. Eight and four by me, that makes twelve ninja lost in this chase, I do not think the grass ninja will give up lightly. Likewise, the roads through waterfall may be closed by snow, I just don't know, I can't gauge land well."

"It doesn't sound like there is any other choice though," Yi replied. "I'll do it if I must."

"Perhaps, perhaps," Ise turned his spear slowly in his hands. "There might be another choice."

"What's that?" Yi asked.

"Well," Ise sat down for moment. "I would like to return to Mist soon, but there is no hurry, I have the better part of three years still to complete this mission. It might be easier to wait in Hidden Rain, where Mist ninja are welcome, until the worst of the winter is over before making the trek back. The grass ninja might give up that way. Damn," he smacked the butt of his spear into the ground abruptly. "I can't decide, and I think I want to see the sea too much. It influences me. What do you think Yi?"

The question had no easy answer to Yi, though her reasons were far different than those of Ise. _To go to mist now, or later? Mist is my fate, to be one of their ninja._ Yi swallowed, and forced herself to accept it. _Yes, that choice has been made, I will go to mist. It is the only way. But now?_ Yi felt queasy at the prospect, uncertain. She felt comfortable with Ise, the shark-blooded ninja might have fought her yesterday, but she had made a choice, and would trust him now. _I trust him, but not all the mist ninja_. Yi let her mind wander for a moment, thinking. As it always did that action brought for the devilish specters of the past, ripping and screaming for attention, to lash at her and rip apart all she was built upon now. That decided Yi. _I'm not ready, not to go to mist, not now._ She knew she had to face those dark images in her mind, the visage of her father, the tormented faces of the ANBU she burned, of the sand ninja Dai, immolated from within, and most of all, the word that spiked through Yi's mind and brought tears and sobs forth with but a thought: _Shiro_.

"I think it would be better to wait out the winter," Yi told Ise. "I don't want anyone else to die."

It was not Yi's true reason, but it was a real reason nonetheless, and Yi could see that it decided the shark-blooded ninja. _He does not want to kill anyone else either; we are both the same indeed, reluctant murderers._

"Alright, we'll go north to Hidden Rain," Ise decided it. "We would have had to pass that way regardless, we can always change the decision if things change."

"Right," Yi replied.

"Fill your canteens then," Ise ordered. "It seems we have enough food to get out of the desert. We must make progress now, before the day gets too hot."

The two ninja journeyed north, crossing back over desert land so painfully traversed before. It was depressing to backtrack, to cross the same barren ground once again, and in the heat of the desert little was said, leaving each of them alone with their thoughts, to try and sort through the confusion in their minds.

Ise had put a brave face on things before Yi, sensing that she needed him to guide her now. He realized that yesterday she had held no plans, no goals, had abandoned herself to the desert. _I have to bring her back into the world of the ninja, so she can be a ninja in truth._ Ise understood that much, but he was troubled trying to be a leader. _I have so little experience in this role._ He was a chuunin, yes, holding a rank allowing command of a squad of ninja, but he had never held an actual leadership role before. _Such a thing doesn't happen for bloodlines anymore, not in Mist._ _So I wonder, what do I do?_

The shark-blooded ninja had to adjust his plans as he went, and it was troubling. _I must bring Yi back to Mist, without revealing her powers. This is not what I anticipated, escorting a targeted ninja._ _Still, it is not impossible, it is just like any other escort duty, and_, Ise thought with a dark grin. _Yi hardly needs my protection, she is fierce enough._

Regardless, Ise continued to second-guess his decision to go to Rain, wondering if he should try to press on through the winter regardless. _The grass will likely give up their pursuit over the winter, true, but others might piece together the rumors as I did, others more dangerous._ Beyond this he was not certain he could trust the hospitality of the country of Rain.

It made for a sullen consideration all afternoon long, as they proceeded steadily over the desert sands, and it put Ise in an angry mood. This was compounded by the simple fact of the desert, and that he must moderate his pace to compensate for Yi's shorter legs. She walked quickly, with the tread of a seasoned traveler, but she could not make up for the more than six inches in height he held over her. Burning heat beat down on them from above, silencing mouths and emptying minds of gentle thoughts, leaving them to the quiet of their mutual troubles.

Ise spent the day in silent thought, thinking on what he knew of the Hidden Village of Rain. Such knowledge came from old lessons, things he had been told about a place he had never visited. Still, his teachers had been there many times, for Mist and Rain were linked. Such is the way of many of the lesser countries, mist and rain, grass and leaf, stone and waterfall, the lesser countries existed in the shadows of their greater founders. _Rain is our colony_, Ise recalled, _established some forty years ago_. It was therefore not the youngest of the lesser villages, but it was neither the oldest. A colony in the jungle, a wet land, like mist, but different. Mist village was located on ocean island, swept by ocean spray and storms, one with the sea. Rain was located in harsh jungle, water logged and criss-crossed by rivers, a verdant land of massive trees and endless plants. It was not a place Ise looked forward to visiting. _I am a child of the sea, at home in forests of coral, not of wood. The shark does not swim through leaves._

So he spent the long hours putting one foot forward, and then another. As he walked he went through again and again the protocols for contacting the colony village, his rights as a mist ninja. Empty words ran through the shark-blooded ninja's head again and again, formulating just what he would say, a thousand possible stories and excuses, never finding the right one. Ise was not satisfied, and so the miles passed by quickly under his long and tireless stride.

It was full dark by the time Yi mustered the will to say anything. "It is getting cold chunin. How far are we to go today?"

Those words stopped Ise suddenly, and he looked out from the cocoon of his troubled thoughts. He saw the darkness then, and felt the harsh pains of travel his body had, shark-like, ignored completely for hours, feeling untroubled despite the desert's rasping caress. Ise looked at Yi and saw the obvious exhaustion in her. _She cannot keep up easily,_ he recognized, and felt immediately sorry. _Her body is still weak as well. She is not a shark; I cannot ask this of her_. Still he said only. "Find a sheltering outcrop. Then we can stop."

Yi only nodded tiredly.

They stopped a little while later, eating a cold super of trail rations beneath a monolith of red stone. Darkness extended shadowless around them as they sat in silence even when the meal was done.

At that point Ise stood, and, still silent, worked some simple forms with his spear, finding a release from tension in the strong, sure movements, in the practice he had always done. Yet as he practiced he felt the shark's voice in the back of his head again, the merciless power of predatory speech. It struck him hard then, calling up faces from his past, the last time he had seen the true anger of a shark in ninja. The day his brother died.

As those visions of the past came over him Ise stopped in mid-motion, an action so unnatural the watching Yi gasped audibly.

Faces swirled before Ise, dark in memory, bloody with anger and the pain of death, but Yi's gasp brushed them away just as quickly, preventing them from fully forward. The shark-blooded ninja slipped back into a normal stance then, and looked at Yi with gratitude. _A thankful distraction. I do not need false ghosts inside me like that._ Ise looked to her and nodded. "Perhaps it is a bit dark for practice. Tomorrow we will stop earlier."

"No, you are quite skilled," Yi replied. "I do not think I have ever seen another ninja use the spear with your edge."

"It is not the most common weapon. It was only something I learned because…" He paused as his brother's face appeared again, the dark mirror to all the power the shark-blood could bring, before shaking the image away. _I must focus on this girl before me, I cannot lose control now_. "Because one of my family also used it. Still, my skills are not remarkable. I suspect you simply have not encountered a real spear master yet."

Yi did not miss Ise's pause, but she made no comment on it. "Maybe, but I still think you are very talented, Ise." She spoke his name for the first time, realizing that only as she did so. She stumbled over whatever she had meant to say after that, the unexpected name brushing the thought from her mind.

"How flattering," Ise raised a midnight blue eyebrow. "To have my skills appreciated by someone so much more powerful than myself. Whatever my proficiency it pales before your own talents."

"You're mocking me," Yi replied, immediately defensive.

"Mocking you?" Ise sat down before her, shaking his head. "You killed four ANBU and four chunin in moments, while a single chunin and three genin almost killed me. Our skills are nowhere near equal. Your powers are far greater than mine."

"My powers?" Yi said the words to no one in particular, looking away from Ise as she spoke. "Don't say that. Please…" Ise watched in great surprise as Yi lost control of herself then, wrapping her arms about her body and sobbing. "Please, my powers, my powers…" Tears streaked slowly down her dusty face. "Power means nothing. I can't control my strength. You beat me, and all my powers do is cause people to chase me, or kill those I don't mean to harm. Anger burns, it burns in me. Don't you see? I cannot control it, it kills everything."

Slowly, watching Yi squirm and cry, Ise sank to the ground, letting his spear fall away beside him. His hand twitched toward Yi, but then stopped, and he forced his arms down. That is not what is needed now, he decided, curbing the impulse. Instead he spoke. "Stop," Ise told Yi firmly. "Stop now, control yourself."

Yi looked up at the whip crack words, their strong force demanding her attention. She looked deeply at Ise then, her red eyes boring into his own colorless ones. In the darkness that surrounded the two ninja Yi's eyes seemed bestial points of fire from some dark world, threatening to scorch away everything they touched.

Ise refused to look away. "You cannot let this happen to you, Yi," Ise said sternly, holding his voice steady, forcing his emotions down, though in truth he felt he would rather cry alongside her. "Anger burns in you? Well, I have anger within me as well. A different sort perhaps, but the shark's hunger drives me as surely as your fire. I have done terrible things just as you have."

Yi nodded, but she was unconvinced. "You control that shark in you, I saw, when you summoned the creature, it obeyed."

"It obeyed…" Ise paused thinking. "Yes, it obeyed, but it did not obey me as Ise, it obeyed me as a ninja." He sighed. "I think that is the only way we can control these powers, by remembering always our duty to serve as ninja. We must endure that."

"Alright," Yi replied. "I believe you, I truly do Ise. I see the truth in you. Still, I have done things I don't believe even being a ninja can be forgiven."

"Perhaps," Ise began, and then stopped, sitting silent for a long moment. When he spoke again his voice was different, open, bereft of the tones he had adopted as the chunin. "I think we both struggle with the same thing Yi. Also, we are going to travel together for some time. Therefore we must trust each other." He extended his hand to her. "I will listen to anything you tell me, and do my best to offer guidance, if you will do the same for me in return."

Yi reached out and took Ise's hand lightly in her own; matching finger to finger with slow, deliberate care. Her soft fingers spread warmth over Ise's cold and scaly hand, and he felt himself smile broadly then. In that moment he found real hope for the first time since landing in sound country. _This girl, we are similar, and she can help me, finally someone is there who will understand what it is like to live this way. We will make it back to Mist. With her strength I am certain of it._

In response to Ise's smile, Yi smiled as well, and some of the darkness lifted from her smoldering eyes. "It is late Ise. We should rest so we can leave the desert as soon as possible."

"Indeed," he replied and laid out his bedroll upon the hard-packed sand. "Dawn comes early."

As the two ninja found their way to exhausted sleep in the darkness, they were watched from a distance. Though a wall of blackness stood between them in the desert night, they were nevertheless observed. A cold figure stood atop a nearby stone, watching without breathing as Yi and Ise fell asleep.

_So, the Mist ninja has found you at last_, Shiro thought. _He is an uncommon man, but strong. Strong enough to get you back Lady Yi, so that this mission may be at last fulfilled._ Thinking those thoughts Shiro felt nothing, though it ought to have brought him great joy. His emotions had drained away completely by now, and dispassion ruled his existence.

_Yet I wonder_, Shiro thought, looking up at the stars with his eyeless gaze. _Why do I still follow? The grass ninja lie dead, and the way home is open. Is my purpose not yet fulfilled?_

_No_, Shiro recognized in the darkness, _it is not. There is a long way to Mist yet to go, and Yi will not be safe until she has entered the village walls. Something is coming, something to make the danger these grass ninja posed seem as nothing._ He spun about on the outcrop, his sword springing to hand. _I have claimed many lives already in this quest to guard you Lady Yi, but the true purpose of my existence waits. It is far off yet, but Mizain Yuki would not have sent me on if he had not foreseen greater dangers ahead._

He sheathed the sword again, and settled down upon the outcrop, resolved to watch closer than ever before, the shadow of Lady Yi.


	21. Chapter 18 Dripping Glances

**Author's Notes: **Yeah, new chapter! It's another fairly slow chapter, but think of this period as the calm before the storm. There's a little time in Rain and then everything explodes, and there's important character developments in here.

Anyway, I would ask any readers to review, if possible, it's always heartening to know people care enough to say something.

Thanks all!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.

**Chapter 18 – Dripping Glances**

(the next day)

The forest, when it finally wrapped around them behind tall hills, was most welcoming to Mizain Yi. Under dripping wet eaves and long vines she felt at home again. The rainforest, the environment where she had grown up, was familiar to her, and her friend. Likewise it was friendly to her powers, as the perpetual dampness and regular rains provided essential sources for Mizuho. _The desert was my enemy, but this land is an old friend_, she thought. Yi took great solace in this change of environment, and of the warmth beneath the great trees, another welcoming difference from the frigid desert nights.

As they walked Yi noticed that Ise did not seem to enjoy the rainforest as she did. In the past few days of traveling she had learned many things about the shark-blooded ninja, and had learned to read his moods. They had spoken to each other of many things, of their childhoods, their training, and more, avoiding only the hard subjects of their mutual journeys and their status among the ninja of their homelands. Yi had swiftly come to appreciate talking with Ise, finding in him the first person she wished to speak to since Shiro. That memory brought a sudden stab of pain, and a swift avoidance, as always, but Yi pushed past it, focusing on the mist ninja who walked before her.

"Do you not like the forest Ise?" Yi asked, breaking the silence that usually stretched comfortably between them on the march.

"It is better than the desert," Ise responded genially. "Still, I find it confining in here, the trees are too close, I long for the sea's openness."

"I see," Yi replied, and silence returned. It makes sense he would prefer open lands, a shark swims in greatly open spaces, nothing like this. Also, Yi noted, a spearman is somewhat disadvantaged in these quarters. I wonder though, what Mist is like, what do you call home Ise? She resolved to ask him later that evening.

Yet that day, at noon, Ise stopped unexpectedly.

"What is it?" Yi asked.

He pointed to a tall outcrop of rock in the distance, rising high above all the surrounding forest. "If I recall geography correctly, since we can see that flat-topped mountain we have entered the country of Rain."

"So, why does that mean we stop?" Yi wondered aloud.

"I'd rather not barge into the hidden village of rain unannounced. We are unexpected," Ise told her. "We should probably find the nearest village and see if there's a ninja representative willing to guide us."

"Isn't that risky?" Yi asked him, knowing that revealing themselves to the Rain ninja was not without its dangers.

"Yeah," Ise nodded. "It is, but what else can we do? Still, we should come up with an excuse, a false story is important, there's no need to tell the truth entirely to the Rain."

"Do we need false names then?" Yi suggested.

"Hmm…" Ise thought about it, and a great number of considerations flashed through his mind swiftly. "I think it is better to keep our own names as close as possible, since we will be in residence for some time, and a slip up could be greatly compromising. Still, Mizain is not a good name to speak of, so perhaps you could be Manoaka Yi?"

"Manoaka?"

"A family in Mist. There are some ninja among them. It is fairly innocuous." Ise sighed. "Names are one thing, but what of a story. I'm not good at this sort of thing; I haven't gone on missions outside of Mist country before."

"I'm hardly a seasoned traveler either," Yi quipped. "What reasons can you think of for a ninja to travel abroad?"

"Spying," Ise said without hesitation. "That's the most common, but it will hardly do as an excuse."

"But it helps," Yi said happily.

"How?"

"If everyone simply assumes we are spies then our excuse will be questioned less." Yi paused and her forehead tightened in thought. "We're trying to hide my powers right?"

"Yes, in a village of ninja hiding my own nature is impossible," Ise sighed again. "More's the pity."

"Then we make it so people don't suspect you," Yi said. "You'll be my guardian, that way no one will suspect the fierce Hoshigake of anything. That's one half of the excuse, now we just need a question of why I'm traveling."

Ise nodded with an open expression, acknowledging Yi's suggestion. "Unfortunately, there aren't that many reasons we can offer as to why we need to stay over at Rain for the winter. I think we must name Stone country as a destination, its passes will be closed with the storms, so the waiting is acceptable, but why should I take you there? You're certainly not an ambassador, or a hunter nin, and we can't claim you are from a powerful family. That doesn't leave many options."

"There is one," Yi said with a sigh, but a strangely mischievous look on her face. "I'm a young woman of marriageable age."

"What?" Ise had no idea how to interpret the mark.

"It's simple, chunin," she playfully mocked the rank with her tone. "Say I have been sent by Mizukage to discuss potential offers of marriage with any number of stone houses, with the objective being to trade jutsus once the ceremony is done. Isn't that a suitable excuse?"

"I suppose," Ise answered. "Stone and Mist are not strong allies, but there are relations. Also, the letter I have with Mizukage's seal can be used to back this story, even if its contents speak to something else entirely…" Outwardly Ise obviously accepted the idea, but Yi knew he had another question waiting.

"But?" She asked with a raised eyebrow.

"I'm curious why that is the particular ruse you would pick. It's not one most girls, even trained ninja, would take as a first choice," Ise's shark eyes bored deeply into Yi, and as she looked into those eyes it seemed as if he was asking if she really cared so little about such things as love and friendship.

Yi was thankful then, that she had an answer. "It's not something I want to do, but something I know how to do. My father planned to arrange my marriage within the year I am certain. He has done it to all my relatives, and in his mind I have already wasted two years on childbearing without being useful. I can play this part well, and few others."

"Two years of childbearing?" Ise coughed. "Are my eyes so easily fooled, I could have sworn you were younger than I was?"

"How old are you then, Ise?"

"Sixteen, almost seventeen now."

"I will not be sixteen for another five months, your eyes are quite correct," seeing Ise's blank stare in response, Yi plunged on. "Why are you so shocked? I became a woman two years ago. I have been waiting to be married ever since."

Ise looked slowly at Yi, and she could feel his eyes upon her hair and eyes, the parts that marked her out, the flame tinged pieces of her form that revealed the Mizuho's touch. "I didn't want to ask about your family, it was not my business, but I see I will need to now. In return," his face grew pained. "You can ask whatever you wish about my family."

"Then ask," Yi said honestly.

"We can walk and talk," Ise resumed his tread. "With our story fixed the situation is acceptable. I suspect we won't be stopped by a rain ninja until tomorrow morning. My first question then, did you leave your family to flee an arranged marriage?"

Yi laughed outright at the remark, leaving Ise puzzled, and troubled as well, for her laughter was filled with a sickening black bitterness to match anything he held in memory of his own family. "Flee an arranged marriage, would that it was something so simple. However, your question misses the point completely chunin, I didn't leave by choice, my father banished me."

"Banished?" Ise grew thoughtful. "Explain in detail. Why?"

Yi laughed again. "Actually, I think it's so you could find me." When Ise blanched she simply kept going, enjoying the act of the throwing the resolute Mist ninja off balance, it was the first thing that had made her amused in many days. "He tossed me out as a sacrifice you see. My father can foretell the future in some ways, he knew the Mist was coming, so he banished me to protect the rest of the family, he knew you would be satisfied with me, and he could go on hiding."

"That makes no sense, surely you could reveal all the family's secrets-"

"Not at all!" Yi's laughter and amusement almost managed to cover the deep sadness and tortured regret that bled out of her with the words, and someone simply watching and listening might have never noticed, but Ise could smell her discomfort, and felt the raggedness in her, the torn edges. "He's not so foolish, not my father. He has a jutsu for everything, including wiping away portions of his daughter's mind. I've forgotten almost everything now, locations, names, even faces of my relatives; they're all blocked from my mind, hidden within me in a place I can no longer go. I could never find my way home, or even point the way. Everything's gone, everything except my father's face, and-" Yi stopped abruptly, her voice stumbling with incredible sadness, and Ise saw tears trickle from her eyes. He said nothing, however, simply marking the hesitation. "Anyway, he banished me, but I ran off in the night before he could arrange everything he wanted. Still, nothing's changed from his plans, since you found me, and there's nowhere else I can go."

"That is terrible," Ise said first, and his feelings were genuine. "But it is also good." At Yi's miserable shock he smiled his toothy smile. "You don't understand, look at it this way. I thought you had run away from your family, and no matter what the circumstances, that would have been a betrayal. However, it seems you were the one who was betrayed. Now I can trust you fully. It may hurt you, but it proves you are a ninja as only the hard things can."

"The hard things?" Yi asked, feeling now the sadness in Ise's voice.

"Ninja endure hard service, harder than any other, because we must put it before everything else and can never betray," Ise answered, repeating words he'd been told long ago. "It is only by enduring hard tests that we are proven as ninja. So I have been told, and I believe it."

"Why?"

"He," now it was Ise's turn to laugh in bitterness. "I suppose it's only fair. You can have the story of my family as well. It is not a pleasant one."

"Tell me, please," Yi begged. "If you are willing, I would like to know, I think it could help me, help both of us."

"Perhaps," Ise muttered without confidence. "It is a long story I suppose, but most of it means nothing. The Hoshigake is an old bloodline, shark blood has flowed in ninja from the ocean region since long before the Hidden Villages emerged from the great wars. There have been many strong warrior ninja from the clan, but they have all been viscous, and it is said of us that 'a shark's face marks a shark's heart.' That is, Hoshigake have no mercy or kindness in them. Members of my family are known for giving in to killing urges, for losing control and letting the shark's voice, which is concerned only with taking down the prey, and puts no value on the life of humans, or of secrecy, take control. Still," Ise paused. "That doesn't mean that much. There are other bloodlines cursed just as bad." He turned to Yi. "Your father told you of the purges I suppose?" he asked.

"Yes," Yi nodded sadly. "He said your family survived them."

"We did, yes," Ise answered with equal sadness. "We should not have."

"What? Why?"

"There is only one reason why the Hoshgake, why any bloodline, survived in Mist during the purges," Ise told Yi with blood chilling frankness. "When the purges began those bloodlines possessed a ninja who was strong enough to be essential to either side, and who chose to fight for Mizukage. In the case of my family it was my uncle, Hoshigake Kisame, a ninja of tremendous strength and monstrous chakra reserves. He came to Mizukage's side for one reason only; there would be more bloody killing that way. Still, this choice and his strength bought him a place as third among the Seven Swordsmen and preserved our family.

"I was born only two years after the purges ended, and I was taught all my childhood to admire my uncle, to look up to him as a savior, and an example of all a Hoshigake could become. My parents, my relatives, even others outside the family always told me, to 'be like Kisame.'" Ise laughed then, a horrid drowning sound, one that sucked happiness into dark depths and buried it in airless blackness. "'Be like Kisame' they said, they told me to emulate him even as his list of horrid and barely acceptable deeds grew longer and longer, even to the point when Mizukage and Akai determined his power was no longer enough to justify the liability."

Yi watched as Ise turned his head back to look into her face even as he walked. She saw the salty tears gather at the edge of those pale colorless eyes, but never emerge, for sharks do not cry, and so Ise could not let the grief free.

"Then he killed my brother."

It was delivered in utter deadpan, emotion had fled the shark-blooded ninja's voice as if it had never been there, yet Yi heard a cold anger leaking into the end of those words, and as Ise continued she felt a great fear for the first time. It was a different fear than anything she had felt in many weeks, for it was not a fear for herself, but for another, and she could barely hear Ise's words as the dark memories spiraled up to identify this fear, and the one who had brought it out of her before.

"I was there when it happened, my brother sent me away, for I was a child, to get help. I brought the Warlord, Akai, strong enough to beat Kisame, and he did, and drove the traitor away, but not in time to save my brother. Kisame escaped, and the greatest symbol of my family became synonymous in Mist with treachery. Such is my test, to remain loyal in the face of revulsion, for to all others I bring only memories of the traitor. Kisame is my uncle, but it is said I could pass for his twin. The shark blood is strong in us both, so we look tremendously alike. I hear its voice within me, the voice of that blood; it is a cold anger, where yours burns hot, but otherwise the same. That is the test I must endure."

Ise had become lost in his own thoughts as he spoke, so much so that even as he looked at Yi he looked past her. It was only when he finished that he saw the tears pouring down the beautiful girl's face, as stream of water flowing from red eyes, as if blood could shed tears.

"Ah, ah, I'm so sorry…" Ise stammered. "I didn't mean to upset-"

"No," Yi replied, struggling to compose herself. "It is not your fault, but mine. Your story is terrible, and my heart goes out to you, or it would were I not so selfish that I can think only of my own failings. That is the source of these useless, useless tears!" She screamed. "Useless!" Then suddenly, Yi stopped, the dark memories had gone, banished once again by her anger, by denial and regret, pushing the guilt away. "I will tell you, someday," Yi spoke to Ise. "I promise, please believe me." When Ise nodded she recklessly went on. "I'm sorry I lost myself; let's just walk in silence for a while."

"Ah," Ise responded, and they continued on.

That night, after they had made camp, eaten, and practiced their skills a bit Ise suddenly stopped in mid-motion. Yi looked at the sudden move, but at Ise's silent gesture made no motion. Both scanned the dark trees above them in the almost black light of rainforest evening.

Finally Ise paused. The scents were confused in the torpid rainforest, so he could not pinpoint the rain ninja, but he was certain he was there. "Come out already Rain ninja," he spoke loudly and clearly. "We're not here to do battle, and will travel under your guard as you wish."

The rain ninja dropped from the tree immediately thereafter. He was a tall, thin man in dark green and brown, colors suitable for this forest realm. He carried no weapon openly, but Ise could smell strange substances about him, unnatural things he did not like.

Smoothly the Rain ninja bowed before them. "Mist ninja is it?" He chuckled behind a strange breathing apparatus, a device commonly worn by Rain ninja to allow amphibious operations. "You are far from home. You must see our leader before going any further."

"As you wish," Ise replied, and Yi nodded her assent as well. "Lead the way then, I offer you all the courtesy at my disposal, little though it might be."

"I am certain our brothers from Mist will be most welcome," the thin ninja responded, and he smiled beneath the breathing apparatus, but it was a smile neither Ise nor Yi could see. "I'm afraid haste is necessary, so please follow me quickly tonight." Ise didn't like it, but there were no other choices. The two Mist ninja fell in behind their Rain guide and began to travel through the dank, oppressive jungle.


	22. Chapter 19 Wet Green and Brown

**Author's Notes: **More development time, and a good look at Hidden Rain. Also, only two more chapters after this until everything cuts loose, honest, and those should be good chapters too. So, stick it out, everything is slowly clicking into place.

Thanks to reviewers, and hopes for more generosity!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Naruto, or any portion thereof, and make no claims on its copyright. However, all original characters and events are my own property.

**Chapter 19 – Wet Green and Brown**

The Hidden village of Rain was located near the heart of the jungle, lost in a maze of vegetation and growth that served as a natural labyrinth. Those who did not live here, who did not learn the constantly changing world, found it a giant trap. Dead ends, tangling vines, massive webs, and traps without end filled this place, a nightmare of living danger. It was a world so oppressive that the Rain ninja wore their breathers not just for the amphibious world, but to draw pure air from the stagnant, water poisoned the air of the jungle, fuming with sour vapors. Deep within all this was a space where great trees hundreds of years in age and hundreds of meters tall cleared a space for the hidden village to be borne upon their boughs.

Ise walked through the stifling boundary with his head high, undaunted. He hated this verdant mess, but he did not fear it. The stagnant air did not bother him at all, for his shark's gills filtered a sweeter draught of oxygen from the water hanging there, and his scaled skin formed a slick coating to keep the water off. His eyes shifted slowly in their sockets, reading the endless mass of life like a reef, searching, scanning, and waiting for the chance to strike, marking dangers, paths and routes. This dense world was in three dimensions, and though it might be the home of the Rain ninja, the shark-blooded ninja found an intuitive balance and a freedom usually offered only by the sea.

Beside her shark-blooded companion Yi was likewise undaunted. She had already seen the dark looks from their Rain ninja guide as he watched her move with the learned lore of one at home in the jungle. She wore a bandage over her face now, made from fibers of filtering leaves to keep a steady flow of pure air to her mouth, and moved with slow fluidity, using the environment as her aid, not trying to force herself through it. This land did not intimidate her at all; instead, it was perfect ground for her powers. Everywhere the dampness hung in the air, and on the vegetation, if Yi willed she could turn the jungle into a raging conflagration in moments, she was surrounded by that which defended her.

The rain ninja squirmed on the calm gaze of the two Mist ninja. He tried to mask it, but he obviously disliked their familiarity with the land, their comfort here. It was a thing that discomforted him, and so he had pushed them forward hard in the past two days of travel. _We worry you, rain ninja_, Ise observed. _You fear that these barriers are so ineffective._ _I wonder, is it simply because you fear that other enemies, like the Leaf, could adapt to this so easily, or is it because there are things you wish to hide from us?_ Ise regarded everything with suspicion. History made clear that Rain was Mist's colony, a realm established by Mist ninja isolated from the sea in the water soaked lakes and rivers of the jungle basin. Despite this, relations had been cool for the past twenty years long, for the rain did not approve of, some might say feared, the current Mizukage. The shark-blooded ninja had been told this, and he knew his heritage marked him well here. _I am an object of hatred and fear,_ Ise saw the glances beneath the rain ninja's twisted masked sneers. _Let them come at me with their hatred if they will, _he thought_. I can bear that, I am used to it, these Rain ninja are amateurs. They have no true knowledge of how to revile someone, not like those in Mist. Better they should hate me and lose all inquiry through that hatred than probe the depths of this mission._

"Where is your leader's building?" Ise asked the rain ninja who guided them. "It is not too far I hope."

"Surely you are not tired Mist ninja?" the rain ninja remarked sarcastically. "In any case it is near the center of the village. There," he pointed to a small spherical building carved into the trunk of the greatest tree of them all, deep in the middle of the hidden village."

"Good, let's go then."

"Why so anxious Hoshigake? Do you not like the jungle?"

"The jungle is nice enough," Yi answered instead of Ise. "But it is rapidly becoming dark, and I for one do not want to blunder about in this vertical village in the dark."

"Heh," contempt filled the snort. "Well then, follow quickly; it should not be long if we walk fast."

So they walked quickly, the rain ninja paused only once, at the outer screen of vines and brambles that served as a defensive net for the village. Here he quickly whispered words to a fast messenger who was sent on ahead, informing the head ninja of their arrival.

The three travelers elicited much notice as they passed through Hidden Rain. The tall, shark visage of the Hoshigake, and Yi's blue streaked red hair marked them as unusual, as did the uniforms and forehead protectors of the mist ninja. Dark stares and quiet whispers followed as they passed, all hidden carefully behind fans, sleeves, or the ubiquitous breathing devices the rain ninja bore, so that their faces were not exposed. Those dark looks beneath four lined forehead protectors could therefore be seen only in the eyes and motions of the body.

Ise took great note of this, and in the verdant and fetid jungle air he could sense something else as well. Fear, he could smell it, the undercurrent of disquiet and loathing that passed through rain ninja as they went by. _What a viscous place_, he thought. _They keep those breathers on at all times, hiding their faces even from themselves. This is not a united village; it is a far more dangerous conglomerate._

Rain was a centrally located country, its jungle lands sandwiched between grass, stone, and sand countries, and also sharing a portion of border with the leaf. With so many powerful ninja forces on all sides, and no nearby allies, the Rain ninja were scheming and double dealing. Mist village refused to accept traitors and turncoats, but the Rain took them in abundantly, often providing them with high rank if they could offer the village new jutsus or anything else to provide it power. The Rain ninja walked a fine line of concessions, threats, and posturing to avoid war, but brush conflicts were common between them and other countries, and no one trusted them fully. _What troubled tides have I brought us to?_ Ise wondered, questioning his decision to come to this place with far greater trepidation than ever before.

Paired guards stood before the doors to the head ninja's building, silent ninja in the ceramic masks of the ANBU, statue-like they endured a steady drip of water that poured down constantly from specially shaped gutters that ran around the whole spherical hollowing. It was impossible to enter the building without getting at least slightly wet.

Their rain guide walked through as it was nothing, the rain sliding off him as it did the ANBU, without leaving him at all wet. Ise walked forward without pause, scoffing at the miserable technique to discomfort him. _Do they think a bit of water will of balance a shark? Foolish. _Only Yi scowled as she passed through that slow drip, water flowing down her face and long hair. She shook as much of it free as possible the moment she was through, and Ise saw from the corner of his eye the twinge of anger there. _Keep control Yi, water is not your enemy either, do not let the Rain ninja make you lose focus._ He directed his hopes to her.

The room they stood in was carved from the wood of the great tree, a simple open hollow with few decorations beside rugs throw across the floor to absorb the damp. A simple chair stood in the center of the circular room, surrounded by equally simple lamps. It was only on the ceiling that anything remarkable appeared. Looking up, as a ninja reflexively did upon entering a new building; Ise could not help but emit a small gasp of surprise. _It's a map!_ Indeed, carved into relief up the ceiling were two maps, both fully three dimensional, one of the Hidden village itself, and the other of the entire rain country. They were marvelous works of art, and also, as Ise noted immediately, extremely valuable references for planning any ninja operation in this region.

His attention on the maps, Ise only belatedly recognized the chair was occupied, and looked back to it. It was not instantly apparent; for the lamps were arranged to draw the shadows over the chair, and the occupant sat with legs drawn up and arms pulled in, so as to appear barely there at all. Ise recovered quickly, and then bowed his head immediately; looking out the corner of his eye to make certain Yi did likewise.

The occupant of that chair was a small woman, possibly shorter than Yi, with a decidedly plain countenance and a bony face. Her forehead protector hung down low, almost covering her eyes, and she wore a non-standard uniform composed of patterned indigo cloth, a specialty of the western rain country. In acknowledgement of their greeting she waved her left hand in an infinitesimal circle of welcome.

_So this is Suwa Shiori, head ninja of Hidden rain_, Ise thought, examining the woman. _She is…hmm…secretive._ Little was known about the woman, and the briefing he had received upon her as part of his education about all ninja countries was minimal. She had become the head ninja of rain only four years ago, following some internal conflict. Her policies toward Mist had been distant; she had maintained the old pacts, but done nothing more. Beyond that there were many rumored schemes and tricky dealings whispered about the woman, but nothing that could be proven. Her loyalties and her strength as a ninja were likewise unknown. _I wonder what I should say, beyond the formalities, I'm no politician_. Ise didn't know where to begin.

"So, two ninja from Mist," Shiori began. Her voice was sharp and disjointed, almost snappish, but her facial motions were minimal, and from the distance at which he stood Ise could not even see her mouth open and close. "Well, well, let's have it then, the whole spiel."

"Ah, yes," Ise stumbled for a moment realizing he must speak. "I chunin of the Hidden Mist Village of Ninja, Hoshigake Ise, escorting genin Manoaka Yi of the same, in accordance with the laws of the hidden villages of mist and rain, formally request the sanctuary and hospitality of the Hidden Village of Rain."

"How nice," Shiori replied almost before Ise was done speaking. Her voice was too lacking in continuity and familiarity for Ise to guess at her emotions, but that sharp disembodied voice seemed unable to sound pleased. "Well, hospitality, yes well, hospitality for two then. For how long do you intend to stay with us I wonder?"

"As winter has begun, we would like to stay until the coming of spring, so that the roads would be clear for the continuation of our journey," Ise answered.

"Well, going to Hidden Stone then," There was a sly viciousness to Shiori's words. "And what would your business there be Mist ninja, assuming you can tell me of course, well?" The tone at last became clear, clear in that Shiori would know the business of these two ninja or they would not be leaving the audience to conduct business anywhere at all.

"The business is mine, honorable head ninja," Yi answered from Ise's side, her formal tongue far more practiced and assured than his own, something he found shocking, and he had to resist the urge to stare at her. "My family has sent me to venture to stone and examine the possibilities for a binding agreement."

"Binding agreement?" Shiori threw back her head and laughed. "Such a quaint way to look at it. So they're marrying you off girl, too bad, you're far too sharp of a beauty to be someone's trophy. That'll be a cutting match I'm sure." She laughed again, and then her face froze in the middle of an exhalation. "Yet I wonder, if you seek a marriage proposal, why this timing, why are you stuck coming north so late in the season?"

Ise stumbled, for he had no answer, he had forgotten to consider this part of the ploy. He began to raise his head to bluff, knowing he would certainly arouse suspicion, but before he could speak, Yi answered.

"We were delayed in the south, first by sandstorms and then by unexpectedly heavy rains. It took much longer to travel and became colder much faster than my family had expected." Yi said her tone as perfectly aggravated and annoyed as it were the truth.

"The weather has indeed been poor," Shiori's eyes bored into the Mist ninja. "Yet, why come from the south at all, the road from the east is much more direct if stone was your destination."

Finally Ise had an answer ready, and he did not hesitate to speak. "We sought to avoid the Sound country," he spoke gruffly, developing a contrast to Yi's more elegant tone. "That area is unstable, and as I was the only escort assigned the southern route, though longer, was chosen."

Shiori nodded ever so slightly. "Plausible, very plausible, and you two do not seem to have prepared this entirely beforehand. Well, I think you are indeed Mist ninja, and you," she suddenly shot a finger out to point at Ise. "You are indeed on the Mist ninja roles as a chunin, and your Hoshigake blood is obvious enough. However, I must be certain that this is not a trick."

"Do you doubt our honesty?" Ise spat back, rightly angered, for the head ninja had no right to suspect him further with all the evidence as she had just stated.

"Not really, and normally it would not matter, but there is one little problem," She shrugged, another slight motion. "You are clearly a Hoshigake, the seals on this structure would have overcome any genjutsu you attempted to hide it. The problem is simply this: there are Hoshigake in Mist, but there is also an S-level criminal from that family, one who could be found anywhere. So, Hoshigake Ise, prove to me you are not Hoshigake Kisame."

That sentence, spoken in that sharp and accusational voice of Shiori, sent cold, murderous anger flowing through Ise's veins, and he was seized with the impulse to charge forward and end the head ninja's life right there, his left foot started to lift when he saw Yi staring at him out of the edge of his vision, a look of terror and disappointment on her face. That look, all by itself, purged much of the anger from his system, and he was able to master it from there, and stay unmoving.

Still, there was great harshness in Ise's voice when he thrust out his spear before him and shot back an accusation of his own. "Does this look like Sameheda to you?"

"Sameheda?" Shiori paused momentarily. "Oh yes, well, true, you are obviously not one of the seven swordsmen, how foolish of me to make such a mistake." So she said, but she did not apologize, and Ise was certain the accusation had been deliberate. _Be glad I'm not my uncle, rain woman, or you would be dead right now_, he thought angrily.

"Well, I guess that's everything," Shiori concluded. "You two will be provided quarters for your stay, and may purchase food to cook your meals or eat at the barracks with the other ninja, whichever you prefer. The village will be open to you, but I must ask that you not leave its bounds without first obtaining written permission. I cannot give you orders or have you undertake missions, but so long as you are here, if this village is attacked from the outside you will be expected to serve in its defense." She pointed to the rain ninja who had brought them in. "Keisuke, take care of the details."

"Yes mistress," the rain ninja replied, and turned to lead them out.

As Keisuke led the two mist ninja back through the doors Shiori's voice rose behind them. "Oh, I almost forgot. Mist ninja, do be careful in what plants and animals you touch while in this village. Many of them are deadly poisonous and maintained as part of the defenses. I suggest you have one of the academy students guide you around if you go wandering about."

Ise nodded, but his thoughts at that moment were poisonous. _Must you trumpet your nice little excuse to have us killed if you desire it right to our backs even now? Well, you'll find it hard to sneak up on this shark._

"Come with me," the rain ninja, Keisuke, motioned. "We had best go before the last of the light fades.

Nodding, and with no choice in any case, the two mist ninja followed.

When darkness had fully enveloped the jungle the hidden village of Rain found itself with another visitor. This one, however, went not to a welcome with the head ninja, but snuck from shadow to shadow behind all prying eyes. He crawled along dark paths beneath great tree branches and down long vines, suspended in a world where no man could have hung for long for many minutes, his arms neither growing tired or feeling pain. In time, moving in this slow but unperceived fashion, he reached the outside of a small lighted building near the ground where two ninja prepared to sleep their first night in the land of their supposed allies.

Seeing without eyes Shiro looked into to that building to observe the smooth but cautious movements of Ise and Yi as they settled into the confined dwelling that would serve as their home for perhaps four months. Thinking of that period of time made the shadowy watcher uneasy in a way few things did. _This place, there is danger here, but it is far off, my time is not coming soon, I am certain. It will be different, being here_. In the weeks of the long chase Shiro had been constantly active, roving about and silencing those who pursued Yi, mercilessly cutting holes in their nets so that she could escape her pursuers, endlessly busy, filling the long hours of his sleepless days. He had been able to avoid contemplation of his strange state of existence that way.

Now those distractions would be gone, and only a state of idle vigilance and stealth remained. Yi was likely secure in the village, for even tough there were dangers here there was nowhere she could go and be so far away that Shiro could not swiftly arrive and intervene. _I wonder, what will I do? What will it be like, to have spare time in a spare-less life?_ _If even a life this is._ Shiro saw no answers in the darkness, but he knew he would find out soon enough. _Four months, a short time, and yet a very long one. I hope it is not too long Yi, time does not wait for you._

All through the night that shadow-souled sentinel remained, watching his charge sleep through his eyeless gaze.


	23. Chapter 20 From the Recesses

**Author's Notes: **So, time for another chapter. This is a very important chapter, as it finally solidifies things between Ise and Yi in many ways. This chapter and the next contain the last of the really important character development before the end. I worked hard on portions of this, and I hope things are convincing.

Anyway, thanks to reviewers, and an answer:

Thorn1484: actually that's not nitpicky at all, and I appreciate it. I'm not much of a speller, so I generally have to rely on Word to supply me with options, and sometimes I guess I chose the wrong thing even knowing what I want to say. I'll try to keep an eye out for that error in the future.

**Chapter 20 – From the Recesses**

The days passed surprisingly swiftly in the confines of Hidden Rain. Ise and Yi spent the days together, two Mist ninja isolated in a world of strangers, where the dark looks and suspicions kept them apart. They appeared with the rain ninja only on a rare official summons, usually for a ceremony or a memorial, where they stood silent as representatives of the founding village.

Left alone by the rain ninja Yi and Ise clung to each other, becoming close companions by nature of necessity and the common bond of their bloodline heritage. They spent many days in long bouts of training, practicing taijutsu and the ninjutsu of water, increasing their strength and endurance, focusing their chakra, all the while never revealing their greater abilities. Yet those powers progressed as well, and Yi learned to read the way fire would burn across the water forms she controlled, and Ise felt his senses continue to sharpen, until he felt as if he had lived his whole life before blind to the things that had been constantly about him.

Training occupied much of these wintry days, but talking was also a great part of their lives. Ise and Yi discussed many things as those days passed. He told her all he knew of being a ninja, all the things he had been taught in Mist, completing her long deficient education in the ways of the ninja world. She in turn shared all she could recall of the world of her family, and the nature of her blood. They went through their pasts with brutal honesty, balancing between each other all the horrible concerns they had learned, and all the discoveries they had made, until their way mirrored each other.

Yet beneath all this openness each held something back, a silent, blank moment hidden in each ninja's past that they would not discuss, not even with the one who had become closest to them in the world. Ise and Yi stayed silent, holding a single thing in themselves unsaid, a silent sin that would not be shared between them.

All the winter passed this way, with few distractions, and only this one silence held between them. It seemed to each ninja that this silence would persist forever, and neither made any move to force it to the fore. They were ninja; they could hold their secrets deep inside.

Some secrets, however, have a way of burrowing to the surface.

Two weeks into the stay at Rain Ise had passed a marked letter onto a merchant, the last to leave before winter, to be taken to a relay in the grass country, and from there to pass eventually into the hands of Mist and the Warlord Akai. It said little enough, for Ise was careful to continue to keep his true mission hidden. Instead, it relied on his story to avoid detection.

'The girl is with me still, but we have been delayed by the winter in Hidden Rain. I anticipate few troubles when spring comes.' So Ise's letter spoke, enough of a confirmation he hoped to tell the Warlord he was still alive, and that his mission would succeed.

Everything was going well, and spring was fast approaching, when the first trader of the year broke through the walls of cold. He came from the desert of sand to the south, as the northern roads were still closed. He brought a letter to Ise.

Receiving that letter as he went to gather the weekly food supplies Ise was quite shocked, and he brought it back to the residence immediately.

Yi looked up when he entered. She sat silently at the small table, reading one of the scrolls of ninja history she regularly borrowed from the Rain library. "You're in a hurry," she remarked idly. "Did something happen?"

The paper seemed to burn a hole in Ise's hand, and even seeing it had ripped away the cloak of idleness that had passed over him all these winter days. "Word has come from Mist," he whispered low, closing the door behind him solidly.

Yi's head shifted, understanding instantly her companion's call for silence. She looked about to confirm that they were unobserved, nodding slightly when she was finished.

That done Ise pulled up the other chair, and pulled forth the letter from its envelop. Unfolding it he read out the sharp characters of the Warlord's script in a slow and steady voice, concerned as always for security. "It is from the Warlord," Ise began. "It reads: it is welcome news to know that you are well. Less so the news that you are delayed. That is a bad tactic; to be caught in one place for long is always a risk, no matter the circumstances. Your mission is important, and a ninja should no allow distraction to serve as an excuse. Leave as soon as the roads open. With regard, Warlord Akai of Mist."

Ise looked up from the letter to Yi, only to see her sitting quietly, digesting the news as it were some great shock. He thought about it for a moment, looking back to the words again, and only then did it strike him. "With regard?" Ise hissed.

"Huh?" Yi looked at him. "Why should that matter?"

"It is a code," Ise whispered. "The Warlord would only put something before his name if there was a hidden message. Get ink and a candle."

Yi brought the two things quickly. Ise took the brush and wrote three characters on the back of the letter, a coded seal he had long ago been instructed in. Then he unrolled the paper to its maximum openness and put it to the flame. There, as the letter slowly burned, were revealed a series of short characters. Yi and Ise squinted at the paper, and read each character as it appeared and then faded.

"Danger…get…out…of…Rain!" they turned to each other in shock, and then away from each other as the paper crumbled to ash between Ise's fingers.

For a long silent moment they sat at that table, as the sunlight faded between the boughs of the great trees, casting streams of pale yellow light and long shadows across the room.

Yi was the one to break the silence. "How long till the roads open?"

"I spoke to the merchant today," Ise answered. "If it stays warm we could leave in perhaps three days and the roads would be open when we reached them. We don't have to go any further north than waterfall, so it should be okay."

"Three days?" Yi whispered. "It's too soon."

"Too soon?" Ise turned around to look at her, but her face was turned away. "How is it too soon? There is a danger here, we both sense it, and now it has been confirmed. I'd leave sooner but it would only seem suspicious. I suppose I must go inform Suwa Shiori this evening." Ise moved to stand.

He had risen to his feet, but his hand was still on the table, when Yi's arm came across like a striking snake to grasp it with a vise-like grip. "Not yet," she hissed. "Don't leave."

"What is it?" Ise asked, genuinely confused.

When Yi looked up at him there were tears in her eyes. "I'm not ready to leave here," she sobbed. "I can't go to Mist yet."

"What?" Ise did not try to get Yi to let go, but he pulled her to her feet roughly. "What are you talking about?"

"I told you," her voice rose. "I can't go. I'm not ready, I'll never be ready! It won't work!" She almost screamed.

"Yi, what's happened to you, haven't we been through all these things many times? Only by going back to Mist with me is there any reason to go anyplace. You must be a ninja, you have to accept that."

"Do I!" Yi yelled back. "Do I! I believe everything you said Ise, I did, I believed it and I tried so hard to live like that, to believe that by being a ninja it could all be all right, that I had a life worth living." Tears streamed down her face now as Yi reached up and ripped the forehead protector off her head. Her long red hair with its brilliant blue lines cascaded down, flaming in the sunset light that streamed through the room. "It's not enough Ise, it's not enough. There are some things that even a ninja cannot be forgiven!"

With that act and those words Ise knew he was on unstable ground. _This is deeper than I have ever been before, and there is blackness about all sides._ The thought flashed through his mind, but not before he opened his mouth in return. "Will you throw everything in my face like that? We are the same, it is the same for me as well, do you dare tell me I'm not worthy of living!"

"No!" Yi shouted through her tears. She raised her hands in fists and slammed them into Ise's chest. The shark blooded ninja took the empty blows with stoic resolve, not even twitching as Yi's hands slammed again and again into the hard scales covering him. "You don't get it. You don't know, you don't know what I've done!"

There it was, out in the open. _Even in the deepest, blackest sea, the shark always knows which way lies the surface, and which way lies the bottom._ Ise could sense that in that moment he held tremendous power. What he said in the next few moments had the power to either save or destroy the being known as Mizain Yi. Even as his heart reached out to succor her, a dark current within him screamed back to cut into her, to slash her apart. _Crush the vulnerable one, now, strike. Strike!_ Ise's whole body shuddered, and he threw Yi back roughly. His arms seemed to move of their own accord toward her, but in that moment she looked up at him and he saw something behind her eyes.

Fear burned there, a strange primal fear, beneath the human reason, a blinding terror of the thing that even now reached toward her. Ise's eyes shot wide open, to the point of pain, and he arms slammed backward, striking the wall with enough force to rip the scales bloody from his knuckles. "I don't know? I don't know! Tell me then. Tell me! Yi!"

Yi curled up upon the floor, fetal, a child hiding in a corner from the wrath of someone greater. Yet when the fifteen year old girl spoke it was with an adult's voice. "When I lived with my family there was one who was my companion," she began.

Ise's eyes returned to normal with these words, for even as the urges remained untamed he knew the truth behind those words. Yi's stories had long left out another person, for her tales of escapades in the jungles of her homes had many gaps in them, and now Ise knew why.

"He was my only friend," she continued. "He didn't have the mizuho, but he was my friend, a boy. Shiro was his name, and he was dutiful, virtuous, a good ninja, even though everyone else considered him less than nothing. He was my friend, we went together constantly, getting into trouble together, practicing together, learning everything we really knew of life in that jungle."

Yi turned up to Ise then, meeting his blank shark eyes with her own burning red orbs. "He knew me better than anyone Ise, all my ways and haunts, all the places I would go. So, on the night I fled, when they chased me, it was only Shiro who could find me. And he found me that night. I had just learned the greatest secret of my powers, and I stood on a pond wreathed in flame, reveling in Mizuho as I never had before or have since, letting my anger free the demon in me."

_Oh god_, Ise sensed what was coming, and the tears formed salty in his shark's eyes, even as he stared at Yi without blinking.

"He found me there Ise. Shiro found me," she gasped in pain, but continued anyway, tumbling out the words without control. "He was a good ninja, a great ninja, he did his duty no matter how much it hurt you see. So, when his duty was to bring me back he did as he was told."

"But I was the demon then, and I refused, for I would not be caged, not by the desires of my father. I told him to stay back, to leave it be, but Shiro would not, he would not! He drew that simple sword of his and leapt up over the flames, a desperate, stupid, stupid move. He must have known, he must have, but he did it anyway. He jumped at me with his sword drawn, and I…and I…" With that Yi collapsed, weeping inconsolably.

"Say it," Ise hissed.

Yi glanced up at him, but then turned away, burying her face in her knees.

"Say it!" Ise growled, letting the shark take his voice now.

"Why, what does it-"

"Are you a ninja! Say IT!" the howled words ripped through the room a lethal saw, cutting through illusion and regret.

"I killed him! Damn you, damn you Ise! I killed my best friend for no reason, for no reason but to defy my father, for my empty, worthless, forsaken, deluded freedom! I killed him!" Yi shot to her feet and slammed her fist into Ise's face. "Now do you see why I can't be a ninja?"

Ise took the blow full force, accepting it as the price he deserved to pay for what he had said, but his own hand came out and grabbed Yi's chin. He pulled her up with all his strength, so that her eyes stood level with his, and then he lowered her a few short inches, so that she was forced to stare at his mouth and its needle sharp shark teeth.

"You think that means anything?" Ise rasped. "I told you it could all be given a purpose if you would be a ninja. You think you are the only one with a horrible sin. I have killed a man with these teeth. I ripped his throat open with my jaws, just as a beast would. Does that horrify you, well? It should, but it doesn't matter, because I am a ninja of Mist, and I did it to preserve my mission, and that is the only way I can live with myself after doing something like that. Now, you need to come with me to Mist Yi, because if you turn aside now you will never forgive yourself, whereas if you come, you might just do something that makes it worthwhile."

Ise put down slowly, and as he did he felt her hand move slowly along his jaw, touching each one of his teeth in turn, slowly, carefully taking the measure of his words with her touch. "That's the truth isn't," Yi mumbled. "Gods, I didn't know, I'm sorry. So, it is really the same for you then, you are hoping to do something as a ninja to atone, just as I must, aren't you."

"It's the only way, otherwise we're just monsters," Ise answered, and they sank to the floor together. Instinctively Ise put his arm around Yi's small form, and she grasped it in return, two monsters clinging to each other in a desperate attempt to prove their humanity.

They stayed like that for a long time, crying together, until the tears dried up. Yi twisted around so that she sat beside Ise, but did not let go of his scaled hand. Her fingers ran over his knuckles, feeling the blood there. "You're a mess," she muttered.

"It's what happens when you punch a wall," he muttered offhandedly, and Yi giggled in response, a girlish act that seemed to totally break the room apart into a whole new light. Suddenly they were both laughing stupidly, and then the moment broke again, and they were silent.

Yi let go of Ise's hand, and stood up. "You're a mess, so I'll be the one to tell Shiori."

"Tell her?" Ise blanked on the thought for a moment.

"That we'll be leaving in three days, right." Yi's tone had returned completely to its normal openness with Ise. "We do need to tell her after all."

"Right," Ise stood up. "In that case," he flipped her forehead protector back to her. "Fix your hair first."

"He," Yi reset the forehead protector in her hair then and there. She went to the door, and as she stepped out, she spoke of what had just happened for the first, last, and only time. "Thank you, Hoshigake Ise."

While Yi was gone Ise busied himself mindlessly by putting together dinner and cleaning their small space, but his mind was not on such things, but on the realization that the dark secret that had existed between the two of them was now gone. _Have I ever shared all my secrets with anyone like this? I wonder…_

Then Yi returned with a cunning smile on her face and a strangely satisfied look in her eye.

"Well?"

"Suwa Shiori has given us permission to leave in three days, but she has also insisted that we attend the celebration of spring tomorrow evening," Yi smiled that cunning smile again.

"The celebration of spring?" Ise wondered.

"They measure spring here by the flowering of a certain kind of orchid," Yi replied.

"That's not really…"

"It's a dance," Yi winked at him. "Partner."

"What?"

"As my escort, that would be part of your job right," she remarked with a laugh. "Come on Ise, it will be good to do something fun before we leave."

"I suppose," he responded cautiously. "It's just that Mist ninja don't do that much of this sort of thing."

"How gloomy."

"No, you'll understand when we get there, but I suppose I'm caught in your trap aren't I?" Ise jokingly replied.

"Yes, you are."

"Then I surrender, and accept being your partner," Ise smiled himself. _Maybe it will be good to have a distraction before we launch into the harsh outside world again._


	24. Chapter 21 Watercolors

**Author's Notes: ** Ah, another chapter once again, the last stitch before the peace ends and the violence begins. Perhaps, since sharks feed mostly at night, before night falls? Probably, I'm just being a bit over the top there. Anyway, big chapter, long, involved, but important all the same.

Hey, I managed two reviews this chapter, nice, I'll comment in the hopes of encouraging more.

To the Nameless Reviewer: first of, it's dude, just to make that clear to everybody, though I think I've said so before. Nice to be appreciated and I do try to skip time through parts where nothing significant is happening to either the characters or action wise. I wish I knew the reason for the low reviews, heck I even wish people who think I'm destroying Naruto or something would comment, I'd be nice to know why people aren't reading this.

AJ: that's probably true about a lot of original characters, though maybe less than you'd think. In this piece I've put in characters who are really powerful (everybody will see just how powerful real soon) but I've focused on the price they pay for their power. Something I think the main Naruto plotline hasn't done convincingly yet.

**Chapter 21 – Watercolors**

It was a bright night in Rain to celebrate the beginning of spring. The sky was perfectly clear, a great rarity in that jungle climate, and the brilliant crescent moon and stars illuminated deep into the canopy, covering everything in a smooth touch of pale light. All the lights in the village had been put out, save those in one building. There, in the great ninja hall of Rain, brilliant colors bathed the room, as filtered lanterns hung from every branch in the great natural canopy that formed the ceiling. This scintillating rainbow of color moved slowly in the gentle wind that blew through the canopy, playing over all those beneath it.

Ise stood quietly watching that play of colors, taking solace in them. He was otherwise quite discomforted, he felt out of place at this ceremony. It was a great occasion, and the rain ninja had spared nothing to celebrate the beginning of spring here. Many dignitaries were invited, daimyo, merchants, and artists. The rain ninja displayed great artifacts and special finery to impress their guests, and fed everyone on the bounty of the verdant jungle, fully in bloom now that the chill days of the mild winter had passed. All this beneath the swirling colors in the great hall was quite captivating, and with strong jungle drinks poured many of the guests were simply in awe as the ceremony began.

Standing in formal garb grudgingly loaned by one of the unfortunate ninja who drew guard duty this evening, Ise felt decidedly out of place. He was taller than the ninja whose clothes he wore, and so nothing fit properly. His spear was wrapped in cloth and streams, its sharp point covered and padded, made useless. He felt strangely naked because of that, for his spear was an essential part of his image. As he had told Shiori when he arrived, it was that spear he carried that separated Ise from Kisame, the only visible difference between the two shark-blooded ninja. _Why must I be here?_ Ise wondered, as he listened silently to the completion of the formal ceremonies, the invocation of spring and the charging of the rain ninja by their daimyo for the coming year. _I do not like this. A killer like me does not belong at such a festive event._ Yet even as Ise thought this, he stole another glance at Yi, and felt his conclusion was completely wrong.

Unlike Ise, Yi's borrowed formal wear fit her perfectly, the streaming blue kimono matching her blue highlighted hair with a brilliant echo that accentuated her sharp and fiery countenance. She had found or made makeup somewhere as well, and so her eyes were shadowed in flaming red and her lips burned with a cold blue complement. She seemed supernatural and unreal, but also stunning. To Ise, who had never seen Yi save as a lost wanderer and a working ninja, it was mesmerizing. _I had not thought she could appear so beautiful. It is very strange indeed._

Yi caught Ise's stolen glance at her, and smiled slyly. For her part she thought the tall shark-blooded ninja looked perfectly imperious and intimidating. He wore an officer's ceremonial garb, and though it might be too short, that only served to allow Ise's scaled arms and legs to show through in their fearsomeness. To Yi's eyes Ise stood as a shark among a school of lesser fish, free to strike whenever he chose, and immune to any of the fool's mockery. _I wonder though, how well does he dance?_

There was little time for Yi to ponder before the ninja were all called to answer that question. The daimyo finished his speech to appropriate applause, and then Shiori took the stage. "We have welcomed the coming spring, and the new year it brings with our proper words, but now let us welcome it with our spirits, show them the endless, unbridled energy of the Rain!" her voice rose momentarily, an awkward thing coming from the quiet, secretive woman, but her words mattered little. The moment Shiori's speech ended the band, hidden in a special corner of the hall, began to play.

It was wild music they played, evoking the masterful storms of the jungle and its endlessly changing forms, a type of music far different than anything Ise had ever heard before. The music of Mist celebrated the mystery of the ocean, and its majesty, but there were shared roots here, and Ise could quickly sense it, for both forms of music were infused with massive, thunderous power, an exultation of the fury and strength of the waters of the world. Beside him Yi gasped softly, and then grinned with sharp eagerness.

Rain ninja and their guests wasted no time, but spun outwards into a wild, churning, raging dance. It swirled around Ise and Yi for a moment, jostling them quickly to the edges, for that floor had no room for idle members, and you cannot fail to move in the center of the storm. Quickly moving to the edge of the hall Ise stood in surprise at the tremendous display of wildness by the ninja, it was so unexpected and so uncommon, that he was shocked. Mist ninja did not do this, did not give up their ninja restraint all together, preferring instead the privacy of passage at sea or on the rocks with the changing tide. He looked on that mass of free-wheeling ninja with a certain trepidation, wondering how it could survive, and if he dared enter into such a stormy release.

Yet the shark-blooded ninja would have little choice. Beside him Yi spent a few moments watching the dance, determining enough of its tempo and flow that she felt confident. She had danced some times in her past, not in wild release like this, but with great focus and power, as the dances of the mizain drew on the formless dance of flames, and summoned forth its great energy. _There is no one here to channel this force, but a force is being released nonetheless_, Yi realized. She saw, and watching, refused to be pushed idly aside. _This is all the freedom the ninja allow, and I will take my peace of it now, before the chance may be lost for good_. She smiled a sharp, thin, smile, planning, and then grasped Ise's right hand with her left. "Come on, we're wasting time."

"But I…" he stammered in response.

"No buts, you're a shark right, so follow the fish in their school, and dance with me."

So Ise found himself spun out onto the floor, following Yi. He tried at first to stay in control, to focus and adjust his motions as everything moved, but it didn't work. He failed to stay together, and slammed into many other dancers, earning harsh looks from the rain ninja and their guests. Yi tugged at him softly, trying to bring him into the flow she had already partly stepped into. "Come on Ise," she whispered. "Let it go, and dance with me."

Long ago the shark blooded ninja had cultivated control, had put forward his ninja way over the tug of his blood, but now he needed to back off, to surrender a bit to the world around him, to avoid forcing things. It was desperately hard, but the tugging in Yi's voice, and the hope he saw there, forced him to give in for her sake. He stepped back, and it was a strange feeling. Suddenly, Ise felt like a stranger in his body, a body that moved of its own accord as if unseen hands guided it, a body that dodged incoming obstacles and people before it even detected them. He was outside his body, and yet in it at the same time, the surface of his skin was its own entity, able to move and swirl in consciousness of a greater reality. _It is like swimming_, Ise thought as Yi pulled him around in a tight spin, wrapping closely about him and then spinning wide again. _Everything moves together, a fluid world of motion._

The lights played over them, and Ise found he need not focus on the world around him for the first time in ages. He could simply relax and watch things about him, taking in the world in an unbelievable level of awareness and detail. His shark's senses sharpened everything, but they brought not singular sensations and searching impulses as before, but a swirling, fascinating mixture. Ise watched the lights play of Yi's face as if he had never seen her before, a world of pattern and possibility revealed there, a form that needed no definition or explanation, it was complete in its own complexity, a thing simply there, and then gone again, as the lights changed. Every moment revealed and concealed a thousand such things, a brilliantly colored world, inconstant, and permanent in its own moments, needing nothing more.

Ise found all this fascinating, enchanting, but there was something confusing about it all, for in his loss of focus he moved, but he still felt distant. _This is not complete_, he sensed, but he did no care, not wishing to shatter the moment.

Around and around they spun, Hoshigake and Mizain, and Yi laughed breathlessly between songs. "I told you, you can do this," she gasped, and then spun him back about as the music rose once more.

It went on like this for some time, and neither Ise nor Yi felt like keeping a count, they were enjoying this moment, their first truly pleasant one in rain, and likely the last release they would have before another long, hard journey.

Yet the moment of crystalline, fluid clarity was shattered abruptly.

Spinning around near the edge of the dance form, Yi suddenly stuck another.

It was a rain ninja, one obviously quite drunk, who had dashed across the dance floor heedless of what might happen. He took one look at Yi and pushed her aside angrily. "Out of my way, Mist interloper."

It was not the right move. Before Ise could react, before he had switched out of his dance mentality to realize what had happened Yi had reacted. Her joyous moment had been interrupted, rudely, sourly, and insultingly. She reacted with her emotions, already strong and fervent from the long minutes of breathless dancing. "Mist interloper? You struck me, you damn drunk fool!"

The rain ninja held a drink in each hand, and at Yi's words he took the one in his left and splashed all over Yi, ruining with fruit and alcohol the borrowed kimono, and drenching the Mizain girl in sick sweet liquid.

The scent burning in her nostrils and clinging to her tongue, Yi reacted without thinking, her mind completely separate from anything but this single action. It was as if she and the drunken rain ninja were the only ones in the world, and he had just slighted her beyond bearing.

Yi reached out and grabbed the rain ninja's right hand, bringing the drink he held up towards his face. As she did her anger flared beyond compare, for the eyes of others began to filter into her tunneled vision. "Care to try that with this one!" she hissed.

In the rain ninja's hand the drink burst into flame.

The flames lasted only a moment, for Ise reacted then, dashing Yi to the side and knocking the glass free from the rain ninja's hand, so that he was merely scorched in the chin. "What are you doing?" he asked desperately.

"What am I…what am I do…oh gods!" Yi gasped the words as almost a scream, had she had more air in her lungs perhaps everyone would have heard, as it was only a few nearby ninja realized what had happened.

Then, with a suddenness that startled even Ise, Yi dashed from the hall at full speed.

It was left to the shark-blooded ninja to make half-acceptable excuses about something bad in the wine and the emotional nature of the dance, mollify and apologize to nearby rain ninja, and slowly make his way to the door. Still, he did not do so without noting entirely too sharp looks on many of the rain ninja. _They know this was not simply the blunder it appeared. Why did you do that Yi?_ He asked the darkness. _Could you not have just struck him?_ Yet even as he asked this, Ise already knew the answer. _This is the price we pay for letting our guard down, even for a few simple moments._

Swiftly, Ise made his way through the moonlit village of hidden rain to the small dwelling he and Yi shared. He expected to find her there in the darkness, but she was absent. Indeed, when Ise opened the door he found the place much changed. His ninja uniform lay on the table, along with his entire share of the items they had packed for travel. All of Yi's items were gone, and everything else they possessed, what little it was, including Yi's borrowed kimono, had been piled together as junk.

Only after taking in this strange sight did Ise notice the note on the table.

It was a simple scrawl on a bit of paper, clearly written in haste. It read: sorry, leave tonight? Meet at bottom lake. –Yi

Ise crumpled the slip of paper up immediately, and proceeded to put on his ninja uniform.

There is a lake near the bottom of the vertical village that is Hidden Rain. It is not directly beneath the village proper, but off to the side, in the shadow of the great trees, holding all the water that runs off their massive branches. As the water for the village comes from above, and not below, the lake is little used, save as an occasional practice ground. On this night, with great ceremonies progressing above, the lake was completely abandoned, and sat in the silent darkness, a cold watery mirror to nothing.

Ise approached the lake cautiously, once again wearing his traveling ninja gear. He felt far more comfortable in that outfit than in the borrowed costume he had worn earlier, a costume that now lay in the pile of abandoned things from rain in an abandoned lodging. _The bridges are cut,_ Ise had decided when he left. _There is no turning back now. Suwa Shiori will be offended, but it is best to leave immediately_. Yet, he wondered at this choice of meeting place. _Would it not have been easier for me to meet Yi by the road?_

So the shark-blooded ninja approached the lake with great caution, looking out into the darkness. Still, in the dim light of the moon and stars he saw nothing. There was little light this close to the ground, and the accumulated vapors of the forest dulled his keen sense of smell, making it less useful as a tool down in the dark bottom. Cautiously he stepped out onto the lake, suspended on the surface of the water by a practiced expenditure of chakra. He walked slowly, looking and listening as he progressed, but he found nothing. Finally, well out into the water, Ise's patience gave out. "Yi, are you here?" he called into the night.

Light burst into Ise's vision, swirling about him in a graceful spiral, as flames dashed out over the surface of the still water, caressing it with a soft yellow touch, burning slowly into the center. Once they came together the water surged upward to reveal a ninja in travel garb, a ninja with blue-red hair, Yi. She leapt upward with the burning water, and then spun back down, sliding across the swirls of her mizuho induced currents and moving with delicate grace. Ise gasped at the suddenness of it all, but then his jaw dropped completely when Yi began to dance.

It was not like the wild dance of the rain ninja above, no; this was a slower motion, formal and focused. It was a fluid and slow form Yi made, a practiced motion that evoked the timeless movements of the waves. Ise recognized the dance immediately, for it was the march of the tides, a ceremonial dance from Mist. He had seen it many times, but never like this.

Water fountained and moved around Yi, forming crests and waves, and ever as the water moved flames burned in it, on the surface and within they formed, providing and eerie aurora of light that suffused the full surroundings. Water flowed over Yi's fluid motion, coating her, and it in turn burned, so that her brilliant fire hair coat the essence of flame fully and moved in a mesmerizing way like nothing Ise had ever seen before.

Slowly, delicately, Yi passed through the complete motions of the dance, a sole revolution, and then turned to face Ise. There were tears in her eyes when she did so.

Ise stepped forward, and Yi spoke, her words rushed, but charged with emotion. "This…this is what I wanted you to see before, this side of my power, the lovely side of the horror," she spoke through her tears with effort, but Ise did not need to hear the emotions in Yi's voice to know her sincerity, he had learned he too well to require such obvious cues. "I'm so sorry for what happened, I lost control of myself, the anger, it came out when my guard was down. Can you forgive me for it?"

"It is alright," Ise replied with complete sincerity. "There will always be complications, we can work around them. Besides, you have given me an unbelievable gift, to show me this, your true self."

"Really?" her tears slipped away, and there was only hope in Yi's gaze now.

Ise only nodded.

"There is one more thing I would show you Ise," Yi said softly. "But you must trust me completely. Do I have that trust?"

Without hesitation Ise replied. "Who could I trust if I did not trust you, my opposite number?"

"Then close you eyes," Yi told him.

Ise did as he was told, wondering what was about to happen. He expected some grand display of Mizuho, and was surprised when he felt the slick feely on water sliding up his body. His shark's orientation made it clear he was not being submerged, but the water was slowly coating him. Then he felt a strange and unfamiliar warmth.

"Open your eyes now, Ise."

The shark-blooded ninja opened his eyes, only to see a world aflame. Yi stood next to him, and with absolute surprise he saw that each of them was covered in a skin of burning water. He looked down at his limbs and saw that skin move fluidly with his body, watching the flames flex and play over his form in their strange and fascinating way. There was no rational or legitimate explanation for that feeling, but Ise felt something primal touch him then, as Yi's flame coated hand held his own.

"A great gift," he said to Yi's smile through the flames over her face. "I only wish there was something I could give in return."

"I doesn't…"

"No, it does," Ise cut her off. "And there is something, if you trust me?"

"Of course."

"Then remove the flames from our faces for a moment."

Yi did as Ise requested, and he reached out his hands and put them to Yi's face, her soft skin feeling warm and smooth to his scaled fingers. He spread his hands and placed his thumbs below her eyes. With a single smooth motion he brought his hands across her face and then pulled them away.

Yi felt a sharp stinging feeling, and then a strange, indescribable sensation. She looked down into the water to see what had happened only to see slits opened in her face, slits identical to those on Ise's own, the slits of his gills. "Wha-"

Ise suddenly cut the flow of chakra from his feet, and pulled Yi down under the surface of the lake.

The two ninja were underwater then, breathing easily through gills, feeling no urgency to surface. They were also still aflame, brilliant lanterns beneath the cool surface of the lake. Together they spun around in those dark waters, seeking out everything in the range of vision, seeing a thing never before seen by either, the world of Mizuho beneath the waves. It was a world of myriad shadows and hues, of light lost in the darkness and reflecting oddly about the abyss. A world where tendrils of flame flowed off their bodies in brilliant coils, creating phantoms of color and motion to fascinate the eye in ways no normal phenomenon could.

Floating buoyantly beneath the waves the two hung together with linked arms for a long time, simply marveling at the thing they had created, an experience that only the shared use of their powers had allowed. Finally, with disappointment, Ise signaled by tugging on Yi's arms that they must surface.

With sudden motion they jumped up out of the water to stand atop it. Yi hung there in Ise's grasp, the two clinging to each as if the other was the only thing that held their universe together.

"My apologies, but the jutsu I used will provide gills only for so long," Ise muttered.

"That's all right, it was long enough," Yi replied.

The two walked together to the shore, saying nothing more of the experience, but simply using a few ninja tricks to dry their clothes. They were silent in the darkness for a moment, and then Ise spoke.

"It has been a long evening; perhaps we should start in the morning, when we are rested."

"Yes," Yi replied. "That's probably best. No one will bother us tonight anyway, they're all busy."

So the two ninja went to sleep with gorgeous memories to obscure the harsh ones of earlier that evening. Both believed that despite the incident earlier, all would be well.

The ninja world does treat a power such as Mizuho so lightly, especially not in the ever alert surrounded land of hidden rain.

In the final hours before dawn they struck, coming with brutal swiftness. Not even Ise's shark enhanced senses could wake him in time to mount any resistance. Strong strikes by wise hands smashed them with clubs of iron and wood, driving them to pain and darkness immediately. Ise had time only to regret that he had not paid more attention to the warlord's warning. _This is what I get for trusting the tides in a shoal I do not know._


	25. Interlude 3 Child of Darkest Hour

**Author's Notes: **So, Ise and Yi have been captured. Allow me to be cruel and leave you all in suspense for a little while now. However, I promised action and action I shall deliver, just action from a different character. Anyway, this is certainly the last pause. What follows will be basically five chapters of finale one after another that I hope are worth waiting for a bit. Anyway, enjoy the this little bit with Saki (who hopefully hasn't been forgotten by readers).

Thanks to reviewers! And I hope speechlessness is good.

**Interlude 3 – Child of Darkest Hour**

Clang, clang, clang, clang, over and over again the shriek of metal on metal rang out, swifter than the ear could easily follow. The clashes were harsh and intermittent, but they came with a furious rapidity such that the ear was deceived into believing they were continuous. It was more than simply an artistic illusion; if it entrapped you it could mean death.

Twin forms spiraled around each other on an open spur of rock near the ocean surrounding hidden mist. Both forms moved with blinding speed, so that only a skilled ninja could follow their movements, and both were female.

One was a willowy woman, well into her twenties, she wielded a sword of massive size, one strangely curved so that it wrapped around her like a crescent moon. Uncurved that blade might have been nine feet long or more, curled about its wielder with the long edge held outwards as it was, it was still as tall as she. Long white hair flowed down the shoulders of this woman, held into a long ponytail by a tied forehead protector marked with the four waving lines of Mist. Her eyes burned a bright golden color over pale skin, and she smiled with intense concentration as she moved. Moonlight flashed about her with every motion, drawn into a skein about this ninja, the Lunar Lady of Mist. Her name was Tsuki Kendai and she was the sixth member and youngest of the seventh swordsman, and now the weakest, following the death of Momochi Zabuza, whose skills she had closely surpassed. Still, weakest of the seven swordsmen though the Lunar Lady might be, she was the sixth strongest ninja in Mist, and stronger than all but the most elite ninja of other ninja countries.

In this moment the position of sixth strongest was in doubt.

Kendai's opponent was a much smaller woman, really a girl in most respects. She was shorter than her opponent, and compact of body, and wielded no weapon of long reach. Likewise, this challenger was a genin on less than a year's release from the academy, a child who had not yet seen her thirteenth year of life. There should have been no question.

Yet in the minds of those who watched this battle the only question was how long it would take for the Lunar Lady to lose.

The great lunar sword whirled around its mistress with unbelievable swiftness, its curved form and the fluid style developed to wield it allowing for almost complete coverage of any approach at any time. The Lunar Lady slashed about with perfect precision and cutting power, dicing her blade through the air and any other obstacle it came into contact with, everything except her opponent.

A purple, blue blur streaking from outcrop to outcrop to slash in repeatedly at the swirling blade's defense, each time closer and closer to penetrating it, Stomatoa Saki sought to break the guard of the Lunar Lady.

The two fought without reserve, for this battle was no holds barred. It would end only with the declared defeat of one opponent, as measured by the eyes of Mizukage himself, watching intently every movement of the battle.

"Moonbeam's Grasp," Kendai used a momentary opening to call forth a jutsu, bending the moonlight about her to grasp and hold. A grip that could hold demon stuck absolutely in place.

Moonlight bent and weaved, but Saki wove through it, dodging the directions of Kendai faster than the speed of the other's thought, to come up from beneath with a viscous kick to the thigh.

The sickle blade barely made it in time to block.

Connecting, blade slashed through boot solidly, to hit beneath the fabric something else. Something that made a thunk sound with the connection and protected Saki from harm.

No longer was the mantis shrimp girl as vulnerable as another human in battle. Her body had changed, her skin becoming something different, altered. Akai had seen it first, as discolored purple-blue blotches beneath the skin, but things had not stopped so simply. Now, whenever she fought, those blotches expanded into a complete coating of chitin, an arthropodal armor lighter than clothing but strong enough to block a sword. It was not a jutsu, Saki did not summon her armor, it grew out of her, a protection that was part of her being, and took longer and longer to dissipate after each fight, gradually sloughing off with wear and tear. Akai suspected that soon enough Saki would be covered in chitin on at least her arms and legs permanently, and the stuff was beginning to cover her face and torso as well. It was a terrifying transformation, but one that made the already deadly young girl almost unstoppable.

Leg struck blade, and Saki shifted, for the strike had not been a true one, but only a feint. Her knee from that same leg struck the ground and she leveraged that strength through her inhuman muscular arrangement to push her body upward, so she stood atop the Lunar Lady's great sickle sword poised on her left foot.

For the elite jounin there was now only one option, throw the deadly stomatoa off her weapon before a lethal strike came from one of the arms. "Don't push it," she hissed. "Dance of the Raging Tides!" The sword lurched wildly, the metal seeming to warp and bend, waving in the moonlight, unsolid. Saki's balance was disrupted, and a blast of potent force tossed everything in maddening directions, with enough force that anyone touched by the waves of the blade felt as if struck by a mace.

Saki scissored her feet, and her right arm snapped down to block the only surge of energy her body's whipcord reactions had not woven through. The chitin dented, but the four-tined steel weapons strapped to her wrists absorbed most of the blow. That arm continued down to strike a blow of the blade itself, a strike not designed to cause any damage, but simply to direct Saki's flight, so that when the Lunar Lady's spin completed Saki was directly above her, legs pointed down.

Mantis shrimp ninja came streaking in with all the speed and force of a purple ballista bolt.

With a pattern of defensive spirals and shifts so complex it took three years to learn that crescent moon blade came up to defend. "Moonlight's Maze Counter!"

Saki, however, was prepared; she had drawn out her opponent's most effective defense for this specific reason. Performing such a complex pattern required all of Tsuki Kendai's focus and available chakra. Should the move be broken through, then her opponent would be completely vulnerable.

"Thousand legged kick!"

A crustacean has far more than a single pair of legs. It may have unto the dozens, stacked behind each other, and all with claws. Mantis shrimps are no exception, and while their forearms are their most dangerous attribute, one who does not guard themselves against the entire animal can fall victim to this other danger.

Saki's feet appeared to multiply many times, even as they simply moved so fast the human eye could not follow them. It took over a year to learn any weaknesses in the ever-shifting and all-directional Moonlight Maze, and Saki had not learned these. The two ninja had fought many times, and for that reason the Lunar Lady had been granted a substantial handicap in this match, for she knew all Saki's jutsus, while the young Stomatoa knew only a few of the moonlight's tricks, but Saki was not simply a creature of brute strength and speed, she had all the cunning of a ninja raised and trained by some of the most ruthless and skilled ninja ever to walk the world.

Kick to steel, kick to steel, kick to steel, it repeated over and over, a clash so dinful and dreadful the ear rebelled to hear it and simply lost focus in the blur. Every move made by the crescent moon sword was countered by one of the endless kicks of Saki's own technique, and more, every kick came from the same side.

It was a process that took no more than a single intake of breath, but slowed down to the superfast vision of the mantis shrimp, it was a steady and inexorable process, by which the blade was forced aside and a path opened. When that path appeared, a kunai already held in Saki's left hand was propelled downward with all the strength of a mantis shrimp's blows.

Had the kunai hit the target it aimed for it would have penetrated the Lunar Lady's right eye just as her head pointed vertical, driven with full force through the skull, ripped a ragged hole through the brain, and burst free once again.

The kunai was released, and neither the Warlord Akai nor the Mizukage could possibly have reacted swiftly enough to stop it. They could only see the release of the weapon, and know that Tsuki Kendai was a dead woman.

Then a strong yank turned the kunai aside. It glanced harmlessly off the still carving crescent moon blade. Saki had held the kunai to her left glove with a two foot six inch string. It had cut through only a few of the Lunar Lady's eyelashes.

"Death," the mantis shrimp girl said softly as she landed on the rocky ground.

"So it's over," Kendai muttered, collapsing to her knees. "You beat me, Saki, utterly. Only a week since I left, since we last fought. I thought I could have beaten you then. Did you grow that much stronger in that time?"

"No," Saki replied honestly to the kneeling woman. "I simply thoroughly considered how I might defeat you in battle."

"You hadn't before?" the breathless swordswoman asked. "We've fought many times."

"I was not previously given defeating you as a real objective," Saki responded utterly without emotion, her eyes utterly inhuman, ovals of shifting rainbow color, without white, iris, or pupil. A gaze that saw all in focus, and a thousand times and more the colors a human could, all with a speed human eyes' could never match. The eyes of the mantis shrimp, this was another weirdly alien change that came over this girl in battle. "All other matches were for training purposes."

"Really?" the Lunar Lady turned to Akai and Mizukage with a blank expression on her face. As if to say, 'She wasn't serious before?' Then she turned back to Saki, and stared into those endlessly shifting pools of color. "Well, you beat me, in a straight match, with all use of both our powers. Also, it was not luck. You will never lose to me again, I'm certain. I could not overmaster you no matter the circumstances," for a moment she paused, considering, and then spoke again. "Why didn't you kill me?"

"I was ordered to keep you alive if at all possible," Saki answered, still deadpan. Then, with a flicker of something that might be regard. "Also, I would not willfully deprive Mist of a skilled ninja."

"Indeed," Mizukage interposed here, his strong voice drowning out the words of the two women. "Both of you will be needed in times to come, and we could not afford to lose either. Still, this is an important milestone. Saki, Akai's assessment of you was correct, your power matches that of one of the seven swordsmen now. The Lunar Lady's style is actually the one most likely to successfully defeat you of all of us. At this point I believe only Akai and myself could defeat you, and perhaps not even us."

"What does this mean?" Saki asked, sensing more behind the Mizukage's words.

"It means, my student," Akai answered. "That your training is complete. You have mastered all the essential skills and strategies needed to be a weapon for Hidden Mist by this point, and far sooner than anyone expected. Soon, it will be time for your talents to be used."

"What will I do?"

"The specifics are not yet determined," Mizukage replied. "For now you will continue primarily to develop your skills. However, your startling growth has given us an edge. As intelligence improves you will begin to work against the most dangerous enemies of this village, enemies of all ninja, betrayers who have forsaken the most important of a ninja's charges."

"The Akatsuki," Saki filled in, understanding exactly what her leader meant, quickly synthesizing all the information she had been taught. "And Orochimaru."

"Indeed," Akai growled. "You are the first of the weapons we need to be complete to take on the great threat of your time. There are two others. Once they return, we shall seize the momentum and surprise our enemy. They shall not survive our greeting."

"They are to be killed?" Saki asked.

"Yes," Mizukage replied. "The stage is being set. By the time the Akatsuki make their move they will find that they world they have denied has decided as one to destroy them. We must simply keep them believing we have no weapons until we do. If you hold a sword to you enemy's throat he cannot fail to perish on your strike if he does not know it is there, no matter how skilled his own blade."

"Likewise," Saki added. "If his eyes cannot follow the strike."

The Lunar Lady looked at the girl who had so recently defeated her with something resembling horror. _This is our weapon, a child deadlier than anything I have ever seen, a child who does not understand the ways of humans, a creature not human at all I think._ Looking into Saki's empty face, with its creeping growth of purple-blue chitin and swirling, alien eyes, Tsuki Kendai of the Seven Swordsmen wondered. _I think you are a ninja girl. You do not need to be human to be a ninja. If that is true then there is only one question. Is the strongest ninja human, or something else entirely?_


	26. Chapter 22 Move or Die

**Author's Notes: A**nd the Mechalich proclaimed: Let there be violence! Yes, new chapter, lots of nasty, serious, and painful action in here, with more to come, just like I said. Plenty of other good stuff as well I think, but I have a feeling some readers have been waiting for an action sequence or two. Things will move fast after this point, and I'll try to post appropriately rapidly to not break the tension too much.

Thanks to all reviewers!

Meggido: I must say, one of the reasons I like reviews is sometimes I find really interesting things in them. In this case the phrase 'doubtfully human glory' had me laughing for a long time; it's somehow perfect and perfectly amusing. As to Saki's resemblance to Kimmimaro, well they are both taijutsu focused ninja with things growing out of them and a tendency to stab their enemies with parts of their own bodies. Of course, at this point Saki would probably break Kimmimaro in half, but that's cause Stomatopods are ridiculous.

**Chapter 22 – Move or Die**

"Wake up you scum!" the barked command was accompanied by a firm slap, followed by a grunt of surprise.

Ise's eyes snapped open to the pain, feeling the sting on his cheek.

He looked into the eyes of a rain ninja, a face familiar to him, Keisuke, the ninja who guided to the village the very first day. The rain ninja held his hand in pain, and an aggravated grimace sealed his face.

_Heh_, Ise thought, _should have known better than to slap my scales._ It was only a moment's dark amusement, for as Ise took in his surroundings he realized his situation is quite desperate.

They were in a cell. That much was clear. Bars stared back at Ise just slightly behind Keisuke's form, bars marked with the flowing script of a seal, a cage designed specifically to hold ninja. _The walls are metal, steel probably_. Ise supposed they were placed over wood to create a firmer cage. _Probably warded behind as well, so they can't be broken_, Ise decided immediately.

He turned his head, and his body reflexively tried to follow. To no surprise Ise discovered he couldn't move. There were shackles around his wrists, ankles, shoulders and knees. He was held spread eagled, an awkward position, one he could recognize from what was revealed to his right.

Yi hung there, staring forward with a desperate gaze, trying to simply stare her way past all about her. She had been stripped down to her undergarments, and Ise was certain even those had been searched thoroughly. He knew immediately that his own situation was the same, even as the different feeling of having his scaled skin exposed to the air made it perfectly clear.

Ise looked out, but beyond Keisuke he could see only the bars and two other rain ninja watching carefully. There was no sign of any of his or Yi's equipment. _Damn_, Ise decided, _they've been smart about this. There's no way out._ He exhaled loudly, his disappointment evident.

Keisuke simply watched as Ise made his little scan, watching the eyes of the shark-blooded ninja with care. Seemingly satisfied with what he saw there, he decided to speak again. "I believe it's clear that you won't be going anywhere, yes?"

"Don't bother playing games, you rain dog," Ise snapped. "Just say what you have to say and have done with it."

"So boring," Keisuke muttered. "Are all Mist ninja so terribly uninteresting? Aren't you curious as to what's happening to you?"

"It's pretty obvious," Ise retorted.

"Well certainly it's obvious that you've been captured, and I think it's clear enough that it's due to your companion's little blunder at our ceremony, but do you know the rest?" Keisuke's tone oozed superiority, as if he believed Ise could never answer.

"There's not much," Ise muttered. "You know from other reports what you found within, and you took a move to seize it."

"Partly right, I'll admit," Keisuke replied. "Yes, I did recognize the Mizuho in use; it clearly matched those interesting little reports from grass country. Not being a fool, I acted quickly. I must commend you two, your present mindedness almost got you away, but you should have gone farther."

"Was one bloodline limit worth breaking the pacts with Mist?" Ise asked the one true question he had, for it did not make sense to him. "It will mean a war dog."

Keisuke laughed, slowly and with true amusement. "I told you he wouldn't guess it," he gestured to his companions. He moved very close to Ise's face then, and hissed out his next words. "We didn't break the pacts."

"What?"

"You think Shiori put me up to this? That little leech of a woman? Ha!" Keisuke stepped back, speaking louder. "That little schemer would never dare break the pacts with Mist, she's too afraid, but I, I represent a far different group, one that would be most interested in this little girl's power, oh indeed they would."

"What?" Ise was completely confused now and thinking desperately. _They aren't acting for Rain? Then for who? Some other village? No, this is too involved for a few spies. It must be a whole cell of traitors, but who do they follow? _He decided to ask, hoping to get something out of Keisuke, certainly it provided the illusion that the information might matter to him in the future. "Who's this group?"

"Oh, a certain organization that intends to remain nameless. It has a great many agents, and I'm certain they'll find the Mizuho a most useful power to have in their hands. After all, it seems even that damn Mizukage swallowed his pride to seek it."

"Don't malign my Kage you traitor!" Ise spat.

Keisuke let the spit hit him, and then responded with a straight punch to the face, this time with his gloved right hand.

Ise's head snapped back, and he grunted with the pain.

"You're in no position to dictate to me shark boy!" Keisuke shouted. "Handing you over will be a bonus, a minor one perhaps, but still useful. However, you certainly won't survive past this. They'll be here soon, and then you're a dead little shark. Have fun until then." Keisuke stepped back, and closed the cell door with a slam. "I wonder how you'll deal with despair, little Mist fools."

That done Keisuke left, and the guards went with him. Following the sound of their footfalls on the wooded floor beyond Ise was certain one of the guards traveled some distance away, but the other remained just out of sight, a securely posted sentry.

When they were gone, Ise saw Yi turn to him, and with tears in her eyes whisper. "I'm sorry Ise, it's my fault."

"Partly it is," Ise replied harshly in his own whispers. "But you'd better make up for it by offering a way out. You've been awake longer than I have, tell me the situation."

"It's hopeless," she rolled her head away, despairing.

"I don't care," Ise replied. "And it's not completely hopeless, these are traitors, this facility can't be permanent. If we were in the rain village dungeon then it would be hopeless, but these are traitors, they must have made a mistake."

"The only one I can see is that they had to put us together Ise," Yi whispered. "They searched us completely, all our tools are gone. The shackles are tight and shielding against jutsu even if we could form seals. The bars are also shielded, so even if we got loose, how could we get out? Besides, any noise will bring that guard, and he's no fool I'm sure."

"They're only shielded against jutsus?" Ise asked. "They don't block chakra?"

"No, they don't, but it doesn't matter, the way they've hung us the shackles are way too strong to break, no matter the chakra," Yi's voice was filled with guilt.

"Dammit! There must be a way!" Think!" Ise searched desperately for a solution, combing his mind for everything he'd been taught about escape, every maxim of ninja work he'd learned from the Warlord and his other teachers. Nothing came to mind, only dead end after dead end. His mind raced, faster and faster, and Ise suddenly opened his eyes to realize his breath was ragged and he was starting to spasm uncontrollably. _What? What's…happening to me?_ Then he felt it, an ever growing spike of desperation and rage from inside him, from that place at his core where the shark urges slept, a raw and visceral reaction that screamed for escape. That cried at Ise to throw himself forward, to shatter the shackles and bars. It was desperate, it was angry, and the red rage of that voice cried out for freedom.

Snapping his teeth down hard Ise threw himself away from the pull of that voice, trying to fathom what was going on. He looked over at Yi, but saw only a grim look of desperate hopelessness on her sad countenance, not the maddening raging panic about to overcome him. _Why, why is this happening to me?_

Then Ise remembered something his brother had taught him. They had been fishing outside the village. Ise had caught a small shark, a dogfish, and thinking it a curiosity, had put it in a small tank of salt water to hold it for a while. Yet only a few minutes had passed when the shark started thrashing furiously, and threw itself out of the tank onto the deck of the boat. Naki had seen it then, and quickly snatched up the shark and threw it back into the sea. "Ise, were you trying to kill it?" his older brother reprimanded him. When Ise replied he had just wanted to watch it for a while his brother had sighed, and admonished him. "It won't work Ise; you can't keep a shark caged like that. They have to move; have to keep swimming, in order to breathe. If you hold one in place it will eventually die."

_So that's it,_ Ise realized on the edge of panic. It brought him no solace however to recognize that the shark within him was about to completely lose control in the face of captivity. _Stop it!_ He bit down hard, _I must focus! There has to be a way out of here. Think! _He brought this raging emotions a bit under control. _Okay_, Ise thought, _reason it out, one step at a time. If Yi's right the shackles will still allow me to mold chakra. So, I can still control my own body. Somehow I need a way out using that. Think, they're too strong to smash aside, but there must be another way, think!_

_Rip! Tear! Slash! Rip! Tear! Slash!_ The shark's voice refused to be pushed aside, it demanded attention, and it demanded Ise. This was his blood and it would have him.

_No! I won't lose myself to you!_ That was his first reaction, but the voice continued. _Rip! Tear! Slash! Tear!_ Then suddenly a revelation came over Ise. _That's it! If I can't smash the shackles I must cut through them. It would be possible if I had a tool._ This obstacle threw Ise into a moment's despair, for he knew everything he had that could possibly cut or tear had been taken away from him.

Then he remembered Keisuke's hand.

The mist chunin's eyes gazed down at his arms, now completely bare, revealing the blue scales that his skin had become. They were most pronounced at his hands, but they continued all the way up past the elbow before gradually fading into simply bluish skin. More importantly, while most people looking at those arms saw only that they were covered in scales, these were the scales of a shark: denticles. Teeth.

_So, that is the answer_. Ise decided. He decided and he saw a path open for him, saw exactly what he must do. He looked inside himself then, feeling the shark there, with its desperate panicked rage. "Yi," Ise whispered. "Be ready to move in an instant." He slurred the last words; his voice loosing control, for his closeness to the shark's emotions was already eroding his sense of humanity.

_Damn it! I'm a ninja, a ninja and a shark! I need that rage, and I'll take it, but you will obey me, shark, you will obey!_ Ise growled beneath his breath, his eyes closed, every effort focused within. He felt the rage within him, felt its surging, terrible power. A bloody haze came over his vision and the world seemed to turn red and slow to a crawl. Every pulsing pounding of the heartbeats of himself, Yi and the guard could be heard like thunder. The scent of their blood burned through his nose, calling forth a killing hunger that burned cold, demanding swift death. Ise let all of it rage through him, he let that cold frenzy pound through his veins, and as it did he felt things seemingly unlock, felt his strength grow in leaps and bounds until it seemed nothing could stop him, he felt his senses sharpen to a degree he had not believed possible, and he felt his whole body coil to within an endless razor's edge of an unstoppable strike. He was a shark hinged on the edge of the deathblow, endlessly.

He was also a ninja. Ise took that energy and channeled it, he let it pour down though his skin, surging through his body into the denticles there, filling them, empowering them, making them grow more and more pronounced, filling out to the full potency of a shark of mammoth size, until the teeth-scales cascaded along his skin as a covering of living knives.

_I am a shark! I am a ninja! I will not be caged! I will not be opposed!_ Ise's arms snapped taught, and he dragged them along the shackles, twisting as he went. The metal screamed, but his chakra surged with cold rage, the contact only strengthening the shark's fury, and the metal gave, slashed and ripped, until the shackles fell away from Ise's arms as torn and ragged pieces of metal. He did not stop, but pulled his arms across the bonds on his shoulders, knees, and ankles.

The shark-blooded ninja struck the cold metal floor of the cell then, but did not stop. With a smooth, fluid motion he raked his arms and legs across the shackles holding Yi. Her eyes caught the fire burning in his cold and colorless orbs as he passed over, and Ise saw only admiration there, not fear. Yi dropped to the floor but did not fall. She fell into a fighting position, ready for whatever would come.

The rain traitors were not fools, and their sentry had reacted almost instantly when he heard the shackles tear. He dashed around the corner to the edge of the bars with a kunai in hand, ready to throw, but his eyes went wide in absolute shock when he saw the figure of Ise standing loose, his body covered in raised razor-edges, his eyes filled with something so absolute and terrifying it belonged in no human gaze.

Ise's arm shot out at the guard's face through the bars.

The moment of hesitation had left the guard trapped too close, Ise was tall for a ninja, and his reach was long. Still, the man was no fool, and his kunai was in position to block the blow to the face well before Ise's arm could reach.

Or it would have been, had Ise been striking where his enemy expected.

Intuitively, instinctively, Ise had discovered how to fight with his limbs as razor teeth, and his arm did not strive to connect with the rain ninja, but instead his left wrist went out past the man's neck, and then pulled back in, grasping the skin.

Blood fountained from the ripped throat, and the rain ninja could only gurgle and grasp his ruined neck as he felt death take him.

Not stopping, Ise ran his arm along the bars, trying to rip them apart, but the hard metal did not even scratch. "Damn!" his voice rasped. "The seals have strengthened them, I can't break through."

"Don't worry," he heard Yi say from beneath him, a dark and deep anger in her own voice. "Let me deal with it. After all," she said with a strangely idle curiosity. "There's enough here."

Ise turned to see Yi stand, her hands drenched in the blood of the rain guard. She put her hands to the bar in front of her then, one high and one low. "Strengthened against blows maybe," she raged. "But let's see what it takes to melt you! Mizuho!"

Raw red flames burst from the blood on Yi's hands, surging and rippling. The iron bars grew orange and then red, and then began to run.

Ise watched in awe. _I thought the seals would protect against jutsu…wait, the Mizuho simply makes the water burn, the flames are not a creation of chakra, they burn themselves, the chakra is applied to the water, or in this case the blood, so the seals are useless._

Swiftly the bar melted, and Yi simply pushed it forward and away. "Time to go," She quipped, and slipped through newly created gap. "Where to?"

"Our gear should be nearby," Ise told her. "They would have wanted to present it to whomever was coming. We find it and then escape."

"Right, let's move then."

The pair dashed down the hall, finding it to be an unremarkable wooden hallway like those is most rain village structures. They turned a corner and found a staircase in their way, at the top stood the other rain guard.

"Wha-" he gasped, but attacked immediately, launching a flying kick straight at Ise.

The shark blooded ninja simply raised his arms.

The kick connected, throwing Ise back into the wall, but he slashed his arms apart, tearing into the rain ninja's feet as he was thrown back. Instead of landing smoothing the rain ninja landed and fell and pain shot through his feet.

Yi was on him in an instant, her hands grabbed his face. "Die!" Flames shot out all over the rain ninja, scorching him utterly in moments, a gruesome sight as flames burst through his skull to burn him away.

Ise didn't bat an eye, but got up and continued up the stairwell. At the top the two found a small antechamber, and there was stored a great deal of rain ninja equipment. They also found their own gear.

With swift motions not forgotten from the long journeys before this traitorous village, Ise and Yi slid into their ninja wear, placing weapons where they belonged and other tricks in all the hidden places a ninja kept such things. "Ready?" Ise asked Yi, hefting his spear.

"Almost," Yi spun about, holding two pieces of cloth. She tossed one to Ise, and began to tie the other about her head.

Their forehead protectors.

"Right," Ise nodded, and wrapped his own about his skull. "Now we're ready."

"I'm sure there are more guards," Yi noted.

"I suspect only a few, there cannot be that many traitors, and certainly not here at all hours. Probably only a pair at the entrance, and we'll get the jump on them. Keisuke is the one who worries me. He's around here somewhere."

"If I catch him he's dead," Yi hissed with a vengeful tone. "Dead."

Ise refrained from asking anything more. _I do not need to know_, he decided. "I don't think any of these traitors deserve to live."

They ran for the door.

Luck was with the pair of ninja, for it was light and the door to the outside was open past a long hallway. The two ninja who stood outside never had a chance to know what was coming.

"Water Element: Crashing Spray no Jutsu!"

"Mizuho!"

Burning, raging water pulled the two guards under and left nothing but ash in its wake.

Ise and Yi burst forth, spinning aside from the door immediately as the came, then rolling into a crouched position and scanning for enemies.

They saw the shocked form of Keisuke on his knees perhaps fifty yards in front.

"I-i-impossible…"

"Water Element: Water Ground Whips no Jutsu!" Yi cried, and whips of water stretched out from her arms to rip a passage through the ground before her, before snapping up into the air in waveform. It was a viscous technique, difficult to block and capable of dealing painful blows that could entangle the enemy. Combined with Mizuho, it was lethal.

Keisuke was nowhere close to reacting in time. Twin whips wrapped around his body, burning into his torso. Yi snapped her hands back and hauled the screaming rain ninja in before her. Only when he skidded to a stop did she quell the flames.

"It's impossible," Keisuke muttered again, his voice broken.

"No, it's not," Ise barked. "You underestimated us, and you underestimated the power you were trying to steal. Did you really think Mizuho so easily caged."

"You, you, you're demons," he muttered with his eyes held wide open. "Demons, monsters…" Then suddenly, horribly, he burst out laughing.

Ise kicked him in the side. "What the hell!"

"You're demons, demons, haha!" Keisuke's voice was losing coherency. "But it won't save you, no. They're worse, you may be monsters, but you're nothing like them. Don't think it will end with my death! My comrades will hunt you down, and so will they, oh yes, they will!"

"Who!" Ise kicked Keisuke again. "Damn you! Who it is you work for traitor!"

"Can't you guess little monster?" Keisuke's face split into a grin lit only by madness. "The true devil masters of the ninja, the ones who make you like nothing, the Akatsuki!" With that he suddenly kicked out a hidden knife from the back of his right boot, and brought his fought up, not in an attack against anyone else, but in a strike at his own heart. Neither Ise nor Yi reacted in time to stop him, nor did they truly wish to.

Keisuke collapsed, and Yi turned to Ise, some of the killing fire gone. "Who're the Akatsuki?"

"I don't know," Ise answered. "But I don't think it's good news." He looked up, trying to see the sun above the dim light of the rainforest. "I think we're a bit north of the village." He said after a moment. "We can head northeast toward the road, we'd best hurry."

"Right," Yi replied. "There's no time."


	27. Chapter 23 Vengeance, Power, Futility

**Author's Notes: **New chapter, and time for a battle that has been fated in this story from the very beginning, one I anticipated for a long time. Of course, the next chapter's fight is even better, so stay tuned for that.

Thanks for all reviews!

Meggido: I wish I could get a pet mantis shrimp as well, pity I'm not really settled enough to keep an aquarium. They are supposedly something of a challenge to keep though (stabbing the hand that feeds them and such).

**Chapter 23 – Vengeance, Futility, Power, and Redemption**

It took Ise all of perhaps five minutes to decide that he hated snow. The sticky, nasty, white powder simply got in the way of everything. It was like trying to walk in water up to the knees, without all the usefulness being in water might provide. It was simply a delaying factor, one he could not afford, but one that he could not get around.

Several days in snow had not helped this opinion, but finally, it seemed the whiteness was fading. Ise and Yi had made it through the pass behind Waterfall. They had reached the lands of Sound once again. As the snow receded Ise and Yi quickened their pace. Neither said anything, for they knew they must focus their energies on movement. The marathon chase they were engaged in now could not afford wasted energy.

It was a strange sort of chase indeed, and not what Ise had expected after they burst free from Hidden Rain. There were ninja behind them, Ise was certain, and to both sides, he could smell them on the evening winds at times from high places, and he knew they were there. Yet these enemies never closed the distance, and they never tried to encircle their prey. It had been a puzzle for a while, for Ise knew he and Yi had not outpaced their enemies, not over the snowy passes. "Why don't they try to catch us?" Ise had spat at the fire in exasperation on the third evening. "Are they that afraid of us?"

It had been Yi who provided the answer, something born of hard experience from her days as a fugitive in grass. "No, they are waiting for someone to come from another direction and cut us off. Maybe they are afraid a little, so they've called somebody powerful to come from the other direction and act as the capture team."

"So that's the 'Akatsuki' then," Ise had reasoned, displeased. When Keisuke had mentioned that word Ise had not placed it, but since then he sensed it was something he ought to know, a word whispered in secret by jounin and higher ranks when they did not realize the nearby shark might hear. It was something very dangerous, and he did not know what it meant.

"Most likely," Yi had answered, and then had gone back to the journey.

Once the pursuit pattern had been figured out, Ise had changed methods. He still moved at a swift pace, but not one that would tire then excessively. He suspected there was no way to escape the enemy, and they would need their full strength to fight the ones who came to capture them. _It would be best to make the coast and find a ship, but the enemy is trying to herd us to the central sound country, and since we do not know their numbers we cannot try to break the ring except at the very last. Damn!_ It left Ise dissatisfied deep down. _Sharks are hunters, not the hunted._

The pair of fugitives journeyed swiftly across the countryside, first through snow passageways in deep valleys, and now through the still bare woodlands of the chaotic sound country. Ise was careful to keep as far away from habitation as possible. _Running into bandits or rogue ninja is something we cannot afford now_, he knew.

"How long must we evade them, Ise?" Yi asked on the fifth morning.

"If we can stay ahead for another five days they will have kept us from reaching the sea on the north side, but at that point there will be ports to the east. They shouldn't be able to block us then," Ise paused and sighed. "I'm sure they'll make their move before then, probably soon."

Later that day, as the sun was fading behind the mountains of Stone country behind them, Ise smelled it.

At first he did not recognize what was coming, instead thinking his nose was being tricked by the wind. _Huh?_ He wondered, _why do I suddenly smeller stronger? Did my scent get brought back to me by the wind?_ Confused, Ise ignored the scent for a time, until it grew stronger, and closer. Then it was joiner by another, something more normal and human, and he knew that enemies approached.

Ise's hand shot out in front of Yi beside him. "Someone's coming, two people I think, though there's something strange. The scent is masked well, but there's old blood mixed in, and I can smell it."

"Old blood?"

"They carried weapons that were used recently, a few days ago, and not completely sterilized," Ise answered. "Stupid, they might mask their own scent, but nobody hides blood from a shark's nose. Either they don't know our abilities well, or they're very overconfident."

"Maybe its both," Yi replied. "Still, only two, that shouldn't be anything we can't handle. Let's cut through them and head for the coast at full speed."

"That's a reasonable plan," Ise acknowledged. "Find a spot for ambush."

They quickly found a small marsh at the intersection of two creeks. The trees around it had only the slightest covering of leaves yet, providing minimal camouflage, but there was enough water around for Ise and Yi to make full use of their powers. They chose a suitable point high in the tree and hid themselves behind dead branches and a bit of henge. Yi and Ise were hid together, separated by only a few inches.

They waited for the enemy to approach.

As they hid there, each heard only the soft breathing of the other, but Ise's senses extended far. They had only grown sharper since his full-bonding with the shark in rage during the escape from rain. He could smell things no human could even dream of, hear motions, and even had the tingling of greater, stranger sensations in the back of his brain, a strange sense of everything about him that came from someplace he could not identify.

For now, however, it was the scents carried on the air that mattered most to him. The scent of old blood grew stronger, along with the scent of a human, though fairly well masked, but it was the other scent, the one he had detected first that puzzled Ise. _It is fishy, different, and partly human, but partly of the sea. It reminds me of my own scent, a different thing. Is this a summoned creature? _

It would not be until he finally saw his enemies that Ise realized what he had properly known from the very beginning, but simply had not wanted to acknowledge.

Yi saw them first, and she tugged on Ise's sleeve to draw his gaze.

They walked through the woods with supreme confidence, and their gait marked them clearly as ninja, but that was the only thing about this pair that was easily understood. They wore long robes instead of a uniform, despite forehead protectors adorning their brows. Black robes, with strange red marks on them, not discernable at such a distance yet.

It was a mismatched pair as well. One of the ninja was a normal looking man, of average height, while the other was the tallest ninja Yi had ever seen, a massive man with an equally massive wrapped sword on his back. When she saw his skin she could not stifle a gasp.

Ise needed only a single instant of view, and his mind changed. His vision shifted, completely ignoring the man on the left, tunneling in instead on the other, on a face that seemed to be a mirror. Blue skin, jagged toothed mouth, cut gill slits in the cheek, and spiked gray-blue hair above. _So, it is you, uncle_. Shark rage enveloped Ise, and his blood burned cold, salt-water veined, his colorless eyes grew dark, and he felt the power in him. The shark there knew exactly what it wanted, and its goals mirrored Ise's own. _Uncle, you're in my way, my enemy. For my mission, for my brother, for the Mist, for myself. I'll kill you!_

With suddenness Yi could not believe Ise burst from hiding and sailed above and toward his enemies. He grasped the notch on his spear and twisted, whipping it into segments and dragging it down toward his targets. "Water Element: Great Water Razors!"

Buzzsaws of water slashed out from between those segments, massive disks of destruction twice Ise's own height. He felt stronger than ever, for the shark in him obeyed him willingly, its goals and his own perfectly mirroring each other, his needs as a ninja at that moment perfectly in line with what his instincts desired. All obstacles to his control of technique and ability seemed to have come free, and the world had narrowed down to a tunnel between himself and his uncle, one his senses penetrated completely.

The two ninja below looked up only as Ise spoke out the words of the jutsu. Kisame swung Sameheda up about him with swift motions. "Water Element: Wave Surge no jutsu!" his guttural voice replied.

Water slammed into water, and splashed everywhere, as bursting razors of liquid smashed into a great wave of power, and there was no direction for either to go. The water rolled away, and as it cleared there was the sharp clang of metal on metal, then again, and then a third time.

As the water cleared Ise and Kisame stood locked in combat. Yi, looking on from hiding, could differentiate the two only because Ise was a few inches shorter than his massive uncle. The great sword Sameheda's cloth covering had been ripped away by the force of the two jutsus, its livid shearing teeth revealed. Ise had blocked a downward cut of his uncle's weapon with his spear, and twisted around, so they stood locked together, each trying to force the other's weapon away high.

A vicious smile twisted down Ise's face as he stared up at his uncle. "I'll kill you!" he hissed. "You won't escape this time!"

"Kisame," Yi was shocked to hear the strange, dispassionate voice of the other ninja, who stood again beside his companion as if Ise's attacks and all the surge of water had meant nothing. "What is this?"

"Hehe," Kisame laughed through his teeth. "It seems it's my nephew, Ise."

"He must be the one protecting our target then," Yi found that voice devoid of morals or duty, a person incapable of loyalty to anything but themselves. "Hurry up and dispose of him."

"Sure," Kisame smiled.

"Don't underestimate me, uncle!" Ise hissed. "You're just an animal who lost to the shark inside. I'm going to cut you apart."

"Arrogant brat!" Kisame flexed his arms and threw Ise backward.

Ise flipped with the move, and his spear again became a whip, slashing towards Kisame's face, forcing a reactionary block. Then Ise spun about and arced over his uncle, stabbing down from above, quick strokes that kept his uncle off guard. He landed behind the other Hoshigake, and simply sidestepped the great slash that Kisame hacked at him, a blow that would have easily cut him in two.

"As I thought," Ise smiled as he turned to face his uncle again. "You have lost to the shark. Its rage controls you. I know that rage, so I can determine your actions."

"Cocky scum!" Kisame spun Sameheda and slammed the massive sword into the ground. "Try this! Breaker!"

The ground cracked open and water surged out, upward beneath Ise.

"Water Element: Bubble Succor!"

A bubble appeared in the blast of water, and carried Ise upwards.

"Shark's Spit Missles!" Ise burst free of Kisame's attack and made his own, shooting thousands of the sharp teeth free from his mouth.

"Water Sword Shield!" Water enveloped the massive blade of Sameheda, making it even larger and enabling Kisame to swing the blade forth to block Ise's attack.

"Not enough!" Ise dove in, taking his spear in his right hand and blocking Sameheda out wide to the right. He rasped his right arm along Kisame's skin.

The skin of the two shark-blooded ninja came together with a strange grinding noise. Kisame grunted dropping Sameheda in the same instant Ise dropped his spear. The two slashed their arms against each other, becoming trapped in a strange stance with Ise's forearms ripping against Kisame's the outside of his arms held against the inside of his uncle's, but neither harmed.

"Not bad, but not good enough!" Kisme spat, and his head lanced down.

Ise dropped away from the blow, having known his uncle would try to bite him, for it was the only reaction a shark would have. As he dropped backwards he kicked out, slamming his uncle in the stomach and throwing him back. As his uncle was thrown back in shock Ise drew three kunai and hurled them with all his strength. "Die!"

Somehow, Sameheda was already in Kisame's hand, and he blocked the kunai and alighted on his feet again. "Heh, think you got me?

Ise stood before him with his spear raised. "Don't worry, I'll finish you soon enough."

"No progression after all that? Embarrassing," The cold voice of the other ninja cut in. "Kisame, end this."

"Heh, it seems he was better than I expected," Kisme remarked. "I'll deal with it."

Yet even Yi, from her high up vantage, could see that the remark was largely bravado. _Because Ise knows his uncle's rage, he can match him_. _If Kisame makes a mistake Ise can win, even if his uncle is stronger and has far more chakra._

Kisame's hands flashed through seals, a pattern Ise knew well, and he knew what was coming. "So that's it, fine, I'll show you I'm not weak."

"Water Element: Water Shark Missile!"

"Water Element: Water Shark Missile!"

Twin blasts of water rose from the marsh and coiled into brutal and destructive columns to streak toward their targets.

Then they struck each other. Ise and Kisame both held the final seal of the jutsu, putting as much chakra as possible into the technique, which stood locked between them. The two stood absolutely still for long moments as the water raged between them, until finally Ise grunted, and his head sank downward a notch.

Kisame's blast of water slammed through and smashed into Ise, hurling him back and smashing him against a nearby tree.

Ise looked up through a mask of pain to see Kisame advancing on him with Sameheda held easily in his right hand. The attack jutsu should have killed him, but his own move had canceled out much of the force. _Still, I can't move_, Ise recognized desperately. _I've no breath._

"Too bad, nephew," Kisame leered. "You were getting pretty good. I guess I'll just have to kill you now."

Sameheda came up over Ise.

"No! You'll die!"

The water that lay all about the ground now suddenly burst into flame between Kisame and Ise, throwing the massive ninja back.

"Wha-" Kisame saw a girl standing between him and Ise. "Who are you?"

"You'll never know, because now you die!" Yi extended both hands, and bent her outer fingers back and thumb in. Rage burned in her, furious and horrible at seeing Ise injured. "Burn in Hell! Mizuho!"

The water beneath Kisame ignited, and he was hurled backwards, his feet burning and scorching.

"Water Wall no jutsu!" he managed, separating the flaming water form his body. Then he managed to find a splotch of dry ground to stand on. "A nice technique," Kisame growled. "But I'll cut you into shreds for that!" He leapt through the air; bringing Sameheda across in a cross cut that would disembowel Yi.

"Secret technique: Burning Liquid Skin!" Water flowed up Yi's body with sudden swiftness, covering her entirely in a flaming, liquid barrier. Sameheda dragged across that barrier, but tore into nothing but water.

Yi tore a kunai from her pouch, and watched as it became covered with flaming liquid, then threw it at Kisame as a counterstroke.

The kunai whirled through the air, spraying droplets of water everywhere, but Kisame managed to position Sameheda so that none of the drops fell on his skin. "Heh, even with that, such a sloppy attack won't get around me."

"If one won't many will, you fool," Yi's eyes narrowed beneath their flaming skin, red on red like a demon's fury. "Water Element: Tako's Arms!"

From the marsh there came a bubbling of water, and then eight long arms, each bearing a cruel weapon made of water, swords, axes, and polearms, stretched forth and reached towards Kisame. The arms of the Tako, the intelligent octopus. "Mizuho!" Those watery arms burst into flame. "Now die!" Yi commanded, as she directed the arms at her target.

Kisame spun about, and blocked blow after blow with Sameheda, preventing any of the eight surrounding arms from striking him with their weapons, an impressive feat, but not enough. Block the weapons though he might, and even avoid touching the arms themselves, Kisame could not avoid the splashes of water unleashed by every movement and block of those watery arms, and every motion brought burning water droplets onto his limbs. He bore it for a moment, and then screamed in pain, and Sameheda fell from his fingers for an instant.

The arms closed in for the kill.

"Bushin Bakuha."

A massive explosion shook the area about Kisame, and suddenly the arms and the shark-blooded ninja were thrown back. The arms dissipated into nothing, while Kisame, though blasted and burnt, got up again.

Yi looked out to see the other ninja, the short one with the cold voice, standing before her.

"You can't kill him just yet," he said. "There's still a use for him." He paused. "So you are the Mizain we are targeting. Your power is indeed impressive; it will prove quite useful to us."

"So you're the Akatsuki, huh?" Yi remarked, and then she let her rage answer. "Just try to take me, plenty have died trying."

"Loud, but useless," the ninja looked at her, and suddenly his eyes went from black, to red, and marked with three eerie seals, then it seemed that his pupil split down those seals, opening into a three pointed star that shook Yi with horror. "W-wha"

"Tsukuyomi."

Yi felt the world fade away and seemed to see a redness to the sky and moon, then memory failed and she struck darkness, as the illusionary world shattered about her.

"Itachi!"

Kisame's shoved his companion aside as Sameheda slid between Itachi and a much smaller sword blade poised to cut the Uchiha down. The Uchiha blinked furiously for a moment, seemingly confused by having his doujutsu broken even in the mere instant required to utilize it.

For Ise, standing against the tree behind Yi, there was an even more confusing scene.

Yi lay collapsed in a puddle before him. In front of her stood his uncle, locked together with a ninja all in black wielding a simple ninja sword. The other Akatsuki member, Itachi, was rubbing his eyes to the side of them.

Then the black ninja spoke. "Hoshigake Ise!" his voice was normal for that of a young ninja, but his words carried something else to them, something strange and unknowable. "Hoshigake Ise!" It demanded Ise's attention.

"What?"

"Take Lady Yi and go!"

"What!"

"Do as I say, take Lady Yi and go, you cannot win this battle. Flee!" It was an absolute order. "I will deal with these two!"

Ise did not like those orders, but he understood his and Yi's state. He moved forward, still aching, but feeling strength return to his limbs. Quickly he held Yi up, wrapping her around the haft of his spear. "What do I tell Yi?" he asked.

Slowly, even as he stood matched against Kisame, the black ninja turned his head. His face was wrapped entirely in black cloth as well, so it took Ise a moment to notice. The other ninja was massively burned, so that no skin remained on his face, and he had no eyes beneath his mask. "Tell her it is Shiro," The ninja spoke the words in an otherworldly tone, even as those eyeless pits stared completely through Ise, measuring his soul. "See that she reaches Mist safely, it must be so! You are the only one to guard her from now on! Now Go!"

Ise could only nod, and he leapt into the trees, numb.


	28. Chapter 24 At the Edge of a Shadow

**Author's Notes: **I have the great temptation to say something like 'let's get ready to rumble' upon posting this chapter. Anyway, one pure unadulterated high-level fight sequence, served up for your reading pleasure. Enjoy.

Thanks to all reviewers!

**Chapter 24 – At the edge of a Shadow**

Shiro watched Ise flee with his eyeless vision. When the shark-blooded ninja disappeared, and his charge along with him, Shiro felt the last vestiges of his emotions carried away as well. He slowly turned back toward the matter at hand, the final matter.

It had all become perfectly clear to Shiro the moment he saw those back uniforms with their red clouds. This was the enemy he had been positioned to outmaneuver; this was the cause behind it all, the ultimate source of Yi's exile and Mizain Yuki's dark plans. This was what Yi was being prepared to fight and Ise as well. _So, it is my purpose to stop them here._

Having recognized that Shiro had felt all the troubling inconsistencies built up in him over the long, long months of the winter simply melt away. The moment his sword came down to disrupt that dark doujutsu Shiro had known that here was the time to fulfill his purpose; his shadow existence would come to an end today. He did not feel happy, he no longer knew the meaning of happiness, but there was a satisfaction.

Shiro turned to the two Akatsuki, the battered and already defeated Kisame, who would bear scars from Mizuho for the rest of his days, and the once again serene and dark Itachi, his moment of weakness past. Kisame had drawn back as Ise left, scowling, for Itachi had interposed himself between them. "Let them go for now," he said quietly. "We will deal with this one first."

Now Itachi spoke again, and Shiro saw him even as his gaze was still facing back in the direction of the feeling Mist ninja. "Who are you? What do you intend to accomplish, dying here?"

"Dying?" Shiro answered. "Dying? I wonder. Can I still die?" He turned about to face Itachi, raising his head to the Akatsuki for the first time. "Or am I already dead?"

Itachi stared into that eyeless gaze with absolute shock, looking into the blackened, empty face of Shiro disconcerted this terrible man in a way he could not yet name. Not in many years had he felt this disturbed. "Shadow souled…" he whispered.

"What?" Kisame growled. "Impossible! No one knows how to do that, not even Orochimaru, only some of the Kages."

Shiro opened his charred and lipless mouth. "Oh no, he's quite right in the guess."

"Who did this?" Itachi demanded. "Who knows this technique?"

"Why should I tell you? Since you are about to die?" Shiro replied.

"Don't get coy with-" Kisame began, but Itachi held out an arm.

"This one's more dangerous than he seems Kisame," Itachi cautioned. "And you have already lost once today."

Shiro took a step back. He held his sword horizontal to the ground, and stared past both Akatsuki members. Holding the hilt in his left hand he drew his fingers down the blade.

Itachi watched the motion carefully, and saw that as Shiro moved his hand the steel of the blade turned black behind it, until the whole blade was as jet.

The shadow-souled ninja felt the world shift, as all color completely left it, and everything snapped into torrential focus. Every shadow, every edge, every motion was suddenly revealed to him, and terrible power pressed out from within his small form. _So, this is the power of my shadow, the fullness of timeless potential._

"Heh, what good is that supposed to-" Kisame muttered, beginning to advance.

He was interrupted as the shadows about him formed into dark blades. Shiro whipped his blade upright, and his right hand danced through a simple pattern of five strokes, forming a star. With each stroke a shadowy blade cut into Kisame, drawing a deep blow.

One, two, three, four, clang. Itachi stood before those shadows, blocking the last blow with a kunai. "As I told them, I can't allow him to die."

Kisame collapsed, bleeding and wounded, but not yet dead, it would have been the fifth blow that completed the move, and by blocking it, Itachi had saved him.

"It seems you are the true danger here," Shiro whispered. "I'll kill him when I'm done with you."

"Don't overestimate your abilities," Itachi closed his eyes, and then opened them again, revealing the red wheel eye of the sharingan.

"Doujutsu? If I could still laugh, I would now." Shiro said without any change in his voice. "How can doujutsu be used on me? I have no eyes."

So speaking, Shiro named Itachi's fear, and when he moved he confirmed it. Here was the enemy Itachi had dreaded for years, a dark thing in the back of his mind that he knew must exist but had never met before, a creature against which the sharingan was totally, utterly, useless. Still, though Shiro could sense the Akatsuki's great unease, he met it well. "Even so, don't underestimate me."

"I won't," Shiro raised his sword.

Itachi held a kunai in each hand, ready.

_So, then the first move is mine._

Shiro darted inward with his blade extended.

Itachi blocked, and Shiro spun about him, matching the Uchiha's speed.

Blades met again, and then a third time, and then Shiro brought his blade across in an arc, cutting not at Itachi, but past him.

Itachi jumped back reflexively, but not completely in time, for Shiro's sword nicked the edge of his shadow, drawing a gash of blood down Itachi's arm.

"Shadow linkage…" Itachi mumbled, but then Shiro came on again, and the two spun about. Itachi forced Shiro back for a moment, and leaped back to open a space.

Kunai and shuriken, thrown at almost superhuman speed, slashed in to carve Shiro up.

The shadow-souled ninja rolled along the ground, his blade darting through gaps in the trees so that its own shadow cut through those of the thrown weapons.

Shuriken, sliced neatly in half, fell slowly to the ground.

"If you want to play with shuriken…" Shiro reached down into the shadow of a tree and made a single motion.

The shadow burst apart into a whirlwind storm of shuriken and kunai.

Itachi rolled to the ground and sheltered beneath his Akatsuki cloak, which suddenly had all the strength of steel.

A moment later Itachi threw the ruined cloak up and charged Shiro holding a sword of his own.

The two crossed blades for a moment then split apart. Itachi dashed up a tree and stood atop the high branches.

_Thinking that there are fewer shadows up there, eh? Don't think I'll give you the chance._

Shiro's sword split off three shadowy duplicates, which he threw at the leaping Akatsuki.

Itachi blocked each in turn, only to land with Shiro directly in front of him.

Though he twisted with great speed, the Uchiha could not avoid a cut to the left leg and then another across the cheek, as Shiro cut first his body and then the glimmer of a shadow behind it.

However, as Itachi twisted about he came back up with shuriken ripping free from his hands, each trailing multiple razor wires.

With a sudden flurry of spinning motions with his blade Shiro cut down through the tree branch and fell completely through, coming to rest on the ground with the tree trunk at his back.

Itachi cracked a smile. "Fire Element: Fire Dragon Missile no Jutsu!"

The massive blast, brought forth with hand seals so fast as to be even invisible, could not be dodged from Shiro's position, and obliterated all shadows before it.

All shadows, that is, except the one its light cast on the tree of Shiro himself.

The impact came, and Itachi's lip curled up slightly. He jumped down, surveying the massive blast. "Is that all?"

"Hardly." The voice came from everywhere at once. Shadows bent and twisted, and then all those shadows of trees and branched twisted into the form of Shiro, sword upraised.

Itachi scanned, searching, but even with the Sharingan he could not tell which one was real, for the chakra in those shadows was colored black and twisted and shifted constantly, having no constancy. "Heh," he muttered.

The shadows bent, twisted, and surged, cutting not into Itachi, but slashing at all the remaining bits of shadow in the clearing.

The Uchiha dodged and rolled to the side, seeing the plan even as the trees and branches began to fall all about him. He moved through with viscous speed, leaping from branch to branch as everything collapsed around him, using the sharingan not to watch the shadows, but to watch the trees as they fell.

Until another black form, this one all too real, stepped out of the shadow of a falling tree with sword upraised.

Itachi blocked the blow with a kunai, but was thrown back, and branches cut and snagged him before he hit the ground.

When his motion came under control again, Shiro had already sent his sword's shadow duplicates flying towards him.

"Kage bushin no jutsu!" Itachi summoned a wall of clones in front of him, enough to simply absorb those shadowy blows while he jumped safely into the now clear area of fallen trees.

Shiro stood before him, his eyeless vision looking out. Itachi was cut, bleeding, and the marks of many blows from branches scored him, but he seemed not at all weakened. "Impressive…"

"I'm tired of this," the Akatsuki member replied, anger seeping into his otherwise controlled voice. "I've figured out a way to end it."

Chakra surged and crackled down Itachi's hands in massive amounts then, so much that it became visible to the naked eye, and Shiro saw it as a livid crackling mass. It even gave off sound, this eruption of chakra from the Uchiha.

Itachi blasted forward. "Chidori!"

Shiro snapped his sword about, cutting blades of shadow through the air at the charging Uchiha, but those brilliant arms cut through them in turn. He threw shuriken of shadow, and then even his carefully husbanded real shuriken, but all were deflected.

"Heh, even if my sharingan can't read your moves, with two hands one will be ready to counter any attack," Itachi laughed, for he held his hands slightly offset with the left behind the right, ready to cut through anything.

Shiro jumped upwards, and Itachi followed, it was absolutely clear that a collision could not be avoided.

_So, this is the final moment then_, Shiro recognized. He brought his sword around, and waited for the moment of contact.

"Chidori!"

"Shadow form…shadow's edge!"

Shiro's body became as shadow, a thing of two dimensions only, yet he hung freely in space, and twisted before the oncoming Itachi.

A moment only, and the edge of nothingness that composed the outline of Shiro's form sliced cleanly through both chidori, leaving perfectly straight gashes across both Itachi's hands.

Itachi passed through Shiro cleanly then, and landed on the ground.

It was as nothing for the dimensionless Shiro to reverse his direction in the air even as the moment ended and he snapped back into reality. "I have you!" he fell toward Itachi's back with his sword held high in his right hand.

There was no opportunity to dodge, and Itachi, having just expended so much chakra, hadn't the energy in any case.

Itachi turned his head back, and looked at Shiro's eyeless face. The sharingan wheel twisted and opened, ripping the pupil wide into a feature strange and dark, an empty hole in the world devoid even of shadow. Seeing that image Shiro saw once more the dark place from beyond the world he had glimpsed when he forfeited his soul, and he knew this one before him was even more devoid than he.

"Amaterasu."

Black fire burst forth on Shiro's arm, curling the flesh and tearing it away with impossible swiftness, and Shiro knew the sword would drop from his fingers before he made the cut.

So, with the greatest exertion of his will he opened the burning fingers and let the blade drop, bringing his left hand across to grasp the falling hilt and position the blade for an equally lethal cut to slash Itachi's head off.

The moment before the blade would strike flesh Itachi spoke again.

"Amaterasu."

Black fire poured down Shiro's body covering his torso and left arm and hitting with such force as to throw him back, leaving him fallen against a tree, his body being swiftly consumed.

Itachi struggled to his feet, and turned toward Shiro.

"Damn," the shadow-souled ninja muttered. "I wasn't able to kill you; still, my mission is a success."

Itachi looked at Shiro, "A success?"

"I was to keep Yi safe, let her reach Mist, and she will. Your companion is wounded, and you, I can see it you see, I know the price you will pay. I win." Shiro's face melted away beneath the black flame, and his vision vanished for the first time since he had reawakened on the bed in Mizain Yuki's care. Then he felt the touch of that emptiness beyond the world, and knew it had come to reclaim what was his.

Yet in the moment before he faded into nothing, Shiro was granted the image of Uchiha Itachi collapsing to the ground with his hands on his temples, and he heard the screams of pain begin.


	29. Chapter 25 Payment Rendered

**Authors Notes: **Time to set up the final act. So, this chapter is a slight bit of spacing, though there's still some combat. Next comes the big fight to end all fights for this story. It's almost over now.

It's almost a pity I couldn't kill Itachi off, but I try to mess with the plotline as little as possible. I love how people seem to so enjoy him getting smacked around.

Thanks to all reviewers!

**Chapter 25 – Payment Rendered**

"Shiro!" it was a ragged scream that ripped Yi awake, an impossible knowledge of what had happened, of the reality she now faced.

The moment Yi came awake Ise stopped, and put her down, holding her with both arms to steady her.

She collapsed weakly against him. "It was Shiro wasn't it, all in black and wrong, impossible, but it was him."

"True, that is what that apparition said," Ise said softly, sadly. "He told me to tell you that it was Shiro."

Yi shuddered against Ise, burying her head against his scaled chest. "Twice, he died for me twice Ise, how am I supposed to bear it? How Ise?" Yi slammed her fists against him, desperate. "How?"

"I don't know, I don't know, I don't know," Ise repeated the phrase over and over again. "I don't know Yi," he wrapped his arms around her, and proceeded to stop her shuddering. Still, Ise discovered that his tears had joined Yi's in that moment and he somehow felt terribly sad as well, that this sacrifice was too much, too much for anything. "Still, I think we can't give up. He told me to see you to Mist, to complete the mission, and I will honor that pledge."

"To go to Mist?" Yi looked up at Ise, and the tears receded. "That's what he wanted?"

Ise nodded.

"Then maybe, just maybe I made the right choice?"

"I think we may never know," Ise said with all truth. "But perhaps that shadowy one was able to see something you and I cannot. Do you believe I can trust that?"

"Yes," Yi whispered, then again, stronger. "Yes, yes! We can trust him, he was my friend, my confidant, he would never lie, not to me, and not to you I'm certain. Shiro," she turned to stare back the way they'd come. "I will try. I will try to make it worth it, to pay you back for everything you gave up. That is my promise."

"Then we had best hurry," Ise said, banishing emotion. "I don't know what happened there really, you beat my uncle I think, he's wounded for sure, but that other one…" Ise's voice trailed off. "I'm sure Shiro bought us some time at least, but even if he defeated those two, our other pursuers have not vanished."

"Then let's hurry to the coast," Yi replied. "I'm alright Ise, really," she pushed away from him gently. "Whatever that one tried to do didn't work fully, I'm ready to go."

"Okay, let's hurry."

They began to run.

Two days passed, long, desperate days. Ise knew by the end of the first night that the two Akatsuki were not after them, he could not smell the presence of his uncle or the other one, Itachi, behind them anywhere. Yet the other ninja remained, still far off, but now closing in to catch them. Ise could not tell exactly where they were, but he suspected a group was ahead, attempting to close the ring fully. It was hard, for it had rained on the first morning, and the scents were obscured. _If they slipped past us then, I could have missed it; rain clouds the shark's nose here on land. Damn!_

Still, there was no choice but to continue on. Ise took solace in the previous battle. _I could not beat my uncle, but it was close. I have become strong, stronger than I ever thought I could be, and Yi is even stronger than I. If our enemies are not numerous or powerful we may be able to simply smash through this containment._

Ise would have liked to try, but with only the weak information of distant scents there were too many risks. _If we attack a group too numerous we could be trapped and slain. There are techniques to counter my abilities and perhaps even those to match up against Yi's_. It was depressing, but Ise saw no choice but to run on, and to force the issue at the last moment possible. So they ran on.

The day was a bright one, and now they had entered the lands of sound through which Ise had passed once before. This country, though not familiar, was at least known, and Ise took some small comfort in that. Also, he recognized that the area was certainly reduced in danger from the fall. _Winter will have killed or banished many of the bandit groups._ _We should only have our own pursuers to worry about._

Yi followed Ise's path with all the speed she could manage, having learned to lengthen her gait over the winter in order to better keep pace with her taller companion. They walked very fast, and ate up the ground as they went, but certainly those who followed were the same.

If was late afternoon, as the two crested a hill, when Ise smelled blood.

It was carried on the wind, wispy and ephemeral, but nothing hid the scent of fresh blood from a shark, and this was human blood, strong, metallic, and vibrant. He could taste the tang of it in the air. _Close, closer than I would expect, and serious_. Ise looked down into the valley below. _Where I wonder?_

"What is it Ise?" Yi asked.

"Blood, recent and close. There's been either a fight or an accident, and out here, I suspect a fight," Ise's eyes narrowed.

"Then let's go," Yi answered, and leapt up to the trees.

"Right."

They converged with great swiftness, guided by the shark's nose. And then by noise, for there indeed a fight and it was still going on.

Taking to the highest branches Ise and Yi looked down, and then they could see it.

Two ninja fought against a third, and a body lay on the ground, stuck full of kunai and shuriken. The two ninja and the corpse bore the uniforms of hidden rain, while the other ninja wore a long green coat that hid his features.

_That coat…_Ise thought, and then he noticed another smell. _I can't believe it…_

The combatants did not notice the arrival of the two observers, but continued. One of the rain ninja flipped back from an exchange kunai to kunai, while the other completed a jutsu.

"Have your damn bugs stop this! Green Rain no Jutsu!" Droplets of rain fell from the sky, great big droplets green in color, and when they struck they burned into everything they touched, leaving gruesome marks.

_Acid,_ Ise recognized, and then he watched the rain's ninja's opponent caught by technique. The ninja was not burned, but seemed to melt apart, and he crumbled down into a black mass, a mass that tried desperately to fly and crawl away even as it was burned by the rain. _Bugs, so, it is him._ The true form of the jacketed ninja leapt away behind another tree.

"Yi," Ise turned to his companion. "We're going to defeat these rain ninja and save the other one."

"Why?" she asked. "Wouldn't it be better to wait until the battle is over and then strike with maximum surprise?"

"Yes," Ise acknowledged. "But I owe this ninja. If you want, you don't have to help, it's my problem."

"Ise," Yi put a hand on his right arm. "We're comrades; your problems are my problems."

Ise nodded. "Then take the jutsu user, I'll get the other one. Five seconds."

"Right."

They moved.

"Why don't you come out bug boy?" the rain ninja taunted. "Scared of us, don't worry we can just kill your bugs in the meantime!" the man who had summoned the acid laughed.

"Water element: Water shark missile!"

The massive blast of water arched upwards to blast in at the place where the kunai-wielding rain ninja stood. The man was quick, and he dodged away in a leaping flip, but it made him exposed.

_Heh_, Ise noted. _You need your companion to cover for you._

Even as the other rain ninja moved to strike at the source of the water jutsu, he was forced to block two thrown kunai, and then dodge aside as a quartet of shuriken followed them.

The rain ninja landed even as Ise's spear whipped out. "Water razors!" the lethal disks of spinning water cut into the branch beneath the rain ninja, dropping him to the ground. The moment he landed Ise was upon him, driving a kunai into his heart. "Too bad," the shark-blooded ninja muttered. "You got caught playing around."

At that same moment the other rain ninja spun around to face Mizain Yi. "Hehe," he laughed. "What terrible aim you have, all those shuriken have hit my backpack, not me."

"That's the idea," Yi smiled, pointing at the stream of water that now leaked down from a puncture made in his right water bottle. It was seeping out onto his left arm and shoulder. "Mizuho!"

Flames burst out and the man screamed, as the water burned into him, hot and murderous.

Yi did not wait, but ran up and slammed a kunai into her pained enemy's chest, taking no chances. "Are you finished Ise?" she called.

"Yes," he replied. "All done."

"Ise?" the jacketed ninja poked his head around from the tree trunk, a kunai still held ready. "Hoshikgake Ise? You don't look the same."

Ise looked up at him. "Sorry. Henge!" he enacted the jutsu, replacing the old disguise. "This what you were looking for?"

"Maybe…" the ninja's voice was cautious. "This is a suspect situation."

"Not really, I told you I'd pay back the debt Shino," Ise called up. "So really, you don't have to hide behind that bug clone."

The real Aburame Shino stepped out from behind Yi, to the Mizain girls' great shock. He was still holding a kunai, but his hands rested at the edge of his pockets. "How can you tell?"

"I can smell the difference between humans and bugs. It's part of being a bit shark." Ise answered, jumping up to stand next to Yi. "Likewise, you don't smell hurt, or at least, not cut."

"No, but they would have had me otherwise," Shino answered formally. "Your debt is paid. However, I have to know, why are you here?"

"We're traveling to Mist," Yi answered. "Ise's nose led us to you."

Shino shifted his gaze, moving his head minutely, and staring at Yi behind those dark eyeglasses. "Last time you were going the other way," he said to Ise without turning his gaze from Yi.

"That is how escort missions tend to work, yes?" Ise replied, amused.

Shino only nodded.

"What about you?" Ise asked.

"Looking for a thief, but what are these rain ninja?"

Ise noted that Shino was careful to deflect the conversation away from his own actions, but it only made him respect the leaf ninja more. _I wonder…_he thought. He decided to trust Shino. "They are pursuing us. It seems you ran into the group meant to close the ring."

"Why?" Shino's gaze continued to search Yi, as if he was looking for something.

"If I tell you, can I also ask you a favor?" Ise responded.

"You can always ask," Shino answered.

"They're after me, damn it,' Yi spat, exasperated. "You saw what they're after; I just used a minute ago."

"Bloodline limit," it was impossible to tell if that was a question.

"Yes, but don't misunderstand Shino, they aren't working for rain, they represent someone else," Ise interjected.

"Who's that?"

"My uncle's one of them, you might have heard of him: Kisame. The other one we met was one of yours, Itachi was his name. They seem to call themselves 'Akatsuki.'" Ise let Shino have the full truth.

"And you're alive?" was the only response.

"We…um…had some help, but it's…gone now. Still, it's only the rain minions that are still after us," Yi answered here.

"So, what was the favor you wanted?" Shino asked Ise, finally turning his head.

"Can your bugs scout?"

"What do you mean?"

"How far can they range?" Ise replied. "Here in air my sense of smell only carries so far. I can't determine the enemy's number. If we knew how many there were, then we could consider fighting instead of just running. Would you help us that way?"

"Leaf gets to interrogate any prisoners," Shino named his condition.

"Fine, we can't stay anyway. It's a deal," Ise extended his hand.

Shino took that blue-scaled hand without hesitation and shook. Then he stepped back.

Yi watched with surprise as bugs crawled out of Shino's body them and took flight, dispersing in all directions. Shino watched them go, and then sat down. "It may take some time. They can only fly so fast."

"That's alright," Ise replied. "We could use a rest anyway."

They passed an awkward moment in silence, and then Shino spoke again, turning to Yi. "And your name?"

"Mizain Yi."

"Aburame Shino."

He fell silent again, and the three ninja waited.

Perhaps two hours, perhaps three, passed in strange silence on that tree branch, as the ninja waited, neither enemies nor allies, uncertain what could safely be said to each other, and none inclined to chat idly.

Then Shino's bugs returned.

They landed on his hands, and he brought them to the lip of his jacket, near his mouth. A moment passed, and then the bugs crawled back into Shino's body. "Fifteen," he said, his voice stony. "Fifteen enemies, five groups of three, all at least chunin level, and they are converging rapidly. There must have been some kind of tracking signal on the ones who died here."

"How much time?" Ise asked, concerned.

"Five minutes at most," Shino seemed immune to worry.

"Fifteen and only five minutes," Ise thought for a moment. "So, overwhelming odds and nowhere to run. If we ambush one group the others will only fall on us from behind during the battle."

"I am sorry to have dragged you into this," Yi said to Shino, bowing. "My apologies."

"A solution is more important," Shino answered.

_Damn it! Too many enemies. Why did they have to all come at once? If they were dispersed we could take them_. Ise felt angry, a nasty, desperate anger at having come so far only to have doom so calmly revealed to them by this imperturbable leaf ninja.

"Ise," Yi spoke. "We can try to break through and run."

"No!" Ise slammed his fist into the tree. "No, dammit! It's too risky, and I'm through running. I won't run anymore. This time, I'm standing."

"The odds are not favorable," Shino said calmly.

"I know!" Ise shouted. _Have to think, there must be a way, we have five minutes, what can we prepare?_ He thought about it, wondering what he might have done had he had five minutes to prepare for the battle against his uncle. His hand ran over his equipment, kunai, shuriken, explosive tags, and then, deep in the darkest part of his flak jacket, his hand clasped something else. It was a scroll, a thing he had long forgotten about, sitting there next to the information scroll on the Mizain family, buried in the depths of his belongings, never used or even glanced at in all the months of travel, but now Ise remembered it, and he remembered what the warlord had said of it. _There are two other things here as well, one should only be used at greatest need. _This scroll was that item. _Well_, Ise decided, _if there is any time of greatest need, it is now_. He pulled forth the scroll.

"I'm through running from my enemies." He ripped the scroll open.

There was a complex seal pattern written there. Ise was not certain of its complete meaning, but he understood swiftly that it was summoning scroll. He bit down on his lip and spat blood onto the scroll, and then smeared it down the length with his left thumb. "Summoning no jutsu!"

A burst of mist washed over the three ninja, carrying with it the briny scent of the ocean, and a darker tang, the scent of destruction.

When the mist cleared, a deep and cruel voice spoke, filled with absolute command. "So, it seems your mission has almost been a success, chunin. Now what is your crisis?"

Ise, Yi, and Shino looked up to see a tall man standing before them, a man built with all the strength and power of Ise's uncle Kisame, and who likewise bore a massive blade on his back. Yet, this man was not Kisame, his skin was tanned dark by the sea, not blue-scaled, and his blade was not Sameheda, but a long, wave-edged weapon.

The Warlord Akai.


	30. Chapter 26 Oceanic Destruction

**Author's Notes: **Time for the final battle or more accurately, battles. Everybody gets there licks in here, and then some. There's only one chapter after this and a short epilogue, I hope to have everything up before the weekend is over. So, enjoy.

I note I had four reviews for the last chapter, I think that's a new record, thanks all!

**Chapter 26 – Oceanic Destruction**

"Warlord?" Ise could barely believe his eyes.

"Not what you expected Hoshigake?" the Warlord turned to face Ise. "You should know that even a general must sometimes be willing to see things through personally. Now, report the situation."

"Yes, Warlord," Ise immediately obeyed, for the Warlord's countenance fostered instantaneous obedience. "We are about to be attacked on all sides by fifteen rain ninja of at least chunin rank. They are apparently tracking a signal from their dead comrades. There is at best five minutes until they arrive."

"This is reliable data?" the Warlord questioned.

"Entirely," Shino answered, staring up at the taller man.

"Who are you leaf ninja?"

"Aburame Shino," a simple answer.

"Bug user, so your intelligence is good then," Akai turned to Yi. "You must be the Mizain then."

Yi nodded.

"Alright, fifteen enemies from all sides," Akai told them. "You killed three here, so its five groups of three in a broken-ring attack pattern. There's no time for an elaborate plan, so we'll perform a simple counter. I'll take the north and north-east groups. Ise, the west, Aburame, you get the south, Mizain, the southeast. Counter hard to prevent them from uniting the moment they appear. It's probably five jounin and ten chunin, so concentrate on killing the chuunin. Once I'm done with the initial six I'll wheel down to support from Ise's side and we'll collapse to the Mizain's position. That means you have to hold out the longest Mizain. Are you capable?"

"Yes, Warlord," Yi answered without hesitation.

"Alright, get to your positions then," Akai smiled, a cruel, dark motion, and his eyes bespoke a hunger to destroy his enemies. The Warlord had been frustrated for some time, fighting only match after match against the impossible Saki. "It will be good to destroy something," he muttered so no one else could hear.

The four ninja fanned out, taking up positions high in the trees, waiting for their enemies to approach. Akai stood with his sword out, but beside him, his hands holding a seal combination ready. Ise waited with spear in hand, focusing on all that the extended shark's senses could tell him. Shino's bugs were already before him, hidden in the environment, ready to pounce. He held a kunai in his right hand. Yi positioned herself carefully, holding a kunai in her right hand and a waterskin in her left, ready to surprise her enemies.

They all appeared at once.

Akai watched with a cruel grin as his six targets approached. He held his position carefully, waiting for them to close in just enough. The six ninja came down from the trees together, well coordinated as they approached the bodies of their fallen comrades. _Close enough, you're mine_. The Warlord's hands flashed through seals and when completed he grasped his massive sword in his right hand and spun the blade down into the ground. "Burst of Geysers!"

It was one of the many techniques Akai had made famous, a massive blast of chakra induced destruction, with no room for resistance. It was avoid or die.

Geysers of boiling water burst up from the ground all about the enemy ninja, filling the clearing with scorching liquid. Fountains of death surged toward the sky.

The six ninja had only a moment to dodge that attack, which came so unexpectedly from below. Four made it, but two were not fast enough, and were swallowed and scorched to death.

Akai was already moving as they dodged. The ninja closest to him managed only to draw a kunai and turn as the Warlord swung the massive blade down, hitting the kunai and simply altering the angle of his stroke with brute strength to cut a jagged gash through the man's torso.

As the mist master ripped his blade free he spun about to see the first counterattack.

"Heh," Akai grinned as his enemy came down from above with sword raised. It was a move designed to draw him into a deadlock and leave him vulnerable to the other's attack. Akai, however, was not playing such a foolish game.

The Warlord took his sword in both hands and spun it, turning the massive blade into that lethal cutting lathe which no normal weapon could withstand. He brought the spinning blade in an overhand chop that passed completely through the rain ninja's sword and left his a ruined pulp of his torso. Akai did not wait for the next move, but dashed right, searching and assessing as he did so. _Only two remain, one on each side. Your move, rain ninja._

Running to the right, Akai simply waited for the nearby ninja to attempt a jutsu, knowing the other was out of position due to his swift charge.

"Rain Element: Chilling Hail no Jutsu!"

Massive hailstones the size of a man's fist, and hard and cold as arctic ice streaked from the ninja's hands at Akai.

"Is that all? Ha!" Akai laughed, and his hands ripped through seals. "Maelstrom Burst no jutsu!"

It was the most basic of all strategies, smash your enemies force with greater force, and it was the method Akai most preferred. From all directions about his body, as he whirled his massive spinning blade, a spiraled whirlpool of water blasted out. It smashed aside the hailstones with a far greater force, and tossed the rain ninja aside like a spinning top. The man landed against a tree and gasped a desperate breath only quick enough to see that brutal sword descend on his head.

"Damn you, bastard!" the sixth and final rain ninja shouted, leaping at Akai and hurling a storm of shuriken.

In return Akai leaped higher, launching himself above the canopy and his rain ninja enemy.

"Got you!" the man shouted. "Replicating needles no jutsu!" He hurled sharp needles from each between each finger, and then made the same seal repeatedly, again and again, and each time the needles all replicated, doubling, and doubling into a massive wall of razor points.

The Warlord's hands jerked back and his sword spun with even greater speed, and then he snapped his arms forward, throwing the massive blade down at the oncoming blast of needles, now spinning along the axis of its blade and about its center a well, a whirlwind of force that carried a great wind with it, smashed through all the needles and sending then spinning uselessly through the air.

The rain ninja dodged away from that massive blade, but Akai had landed and already begun his final jutsu. "Waterspout!"

It came down from the sky, a whirling torrent of water, spinning and swirling faster than the eye could follow, and it tracked in ruthlessly. The rain ninja screamed once, and then was silenced by that raging fury.

Akai turned, and moved to aid the others should they need it.

Ise watched as the three ninja in his arc advanced. He could smell all of them, of course, but he had to focus only on the three in front of them. _I must trust the others to do their part, and worry about my own._ Ise confirmed the Warlord's orders to himself. _Strike fast, strike hard_. So he waited for them to reach his range, and then leapt out, whirling his spear before him.

"Water Element: Water Shark Missile!"

The storm of water Ise formed from chakra smashed past the oncoming ninja, blasting them back against trees and leaving bodies crumpled and bones broken, but when the water receded Ise saw only the bodies of three farm workers, and no fallen ninja. "What kind of hideous transformation was that?" Ise gasped. Then he realized something dangerous. _The others have hidden their scents, where are they?_

"Black Darkness no Jutsu!"

"All Silence no Jutsu!"

_Genjutsu!_ Ise recognized even as the world went black and silent at the same time. He dodged aside hastily, for he suspected his enemies could still see in the illusion they had summoned. _They masked all the senses, sight, sound, and smell. Damn, what do I do?_

Then Ise felt a tingling near him, a strange sensation, but he immediately, instinctively, he dodged aside. _What?_ He wondered, even as he felt a strange crackling in the back of his skull. It was an odd sensation, but one he knew he had felt before. _What is this?_ These, tingling, crackling sensations then resolved themselves, even as he moved about blindly. He could sense direction to them, and even movement. Then the shark's voice spoke up from inside him again. _Life_. With that Ise began to understand. _These signals, they are given off by living things, and I can sense them._ Ise focused in on those signals of energy, and they slowly resolved into crackling images of moving men, three who dashed about him, moving swiftly to pin him against a thicket.

_They are trying to trap me_, Ise saw without seeing, but with this strange feeling, a sense no human, no creature of warm land possessed_. But I know where they are_. Ise's face, though he could not see it, opened into a wide grin then. _Let us see how well you do without you own senses, fools_. His hands moved deliberately through seals. "Summoning no jutsu: Depths of the Abyss!"

There was no apparent difference in the world, though the darkness might be said to now be thicker than before, and all seemed oppressive and closed in. Ise felt, through that unearthly tingling sense of his, an almost electric sensation, his enemies stumble, as their senses were likewise robbed.

_Now!_ He acted, charging the nearest foe.

The enemy reacted as most ninja would, caught in a genjutsu, he clasped his hands together and made the sign to dispel the effect. Ise had time to sense the man's shock before he ran him through. _Too bad, this isn't a genjutsu, I've summoned the blackness of the greatest depths of the ocean. You can't see in this, or hear, or smell in the current-less water. It affects me as well, but that doesn't matter now, since I can feel your life._

The next ninja had tried to dispel and failed, and was desperately running, attempting to clear the affect of the jutsu. Ise's whip-spear lashed out and caught him about the ankles. A moment later a sharp kunai plunged into his neck. _Interesting_, Ise noted, _I cannot feel the one I killed a moment ago, and the signal is fading from this one. So, this sense functions only on the living._

Ise turned to finish the final ninja, but then the world snapped back into light.

"Truth Revelation no Jutsu!" the last ninja shouted. He then spun about, and with a look of utter shock saw Ise standing over the body of his comrade. "Impossible!"

Ise sneered at him. "Did you really think you could blind a shark? I know things in ways you could never imagine!"

"Damn!" the other ninja threw smoke bombs at his feet, and even though they did not inhibit Ise in the least, the man's swift blind retreat prevented the shark-blooded ninja from following.

"He's escaped, now what?" Ise wondered. "How do the others fare?"

Every step the enemy took as they approached was fed continuously into Shino's ears as his bugs, strung out in a web far in front of his actual position, passed the word almost instantly along the line. He waited patiently, confident in the setup he had prepared.

Shino was cautious in this battle, for the three rain ninja he had fought previously had proved too much for him. From observing Ise and Yi in combat he knew his strength was not equal to theirs. It was somewhat irritating to him to be the weakest person on the battlefield among the four, but he had no intention of letting the others know that. If he properly performed he would defeat the three rain ninja and no one would recognize the true extent of his abilities. The other three had beaten him, but that had been when they encountered him off-guard and unprepared. Now the situation was reversed and Shino was ready.

He was not even where the others, excepting perhaps Ise, who seemed immune to the trick, supposed him to be. The person standing by Ise and Yi was simply a bushin. In front of that image, three different trees held his bug clones in them, and two of those clones were trapped with his weapons. He had his bugs positioned everywhere throughout the battlefield, ready to converge at a moments notice if any of the enemy ninja stopped for longer than it would take to complete a quick jutsu. Between the jutsu Shino himself had planned and the trapped clones he was certain he could arrange that, all without ever revealing his true position inside a termite hollowed tree-trunk.

The three ninja crossed his outer screen. Shino made the bushin advance, revealing it to the enemy ninja.

"A leaf ninja?" one of the rain ninja spoke. "Helping Mist? Odd…"

"It's not important," the ninja in the center returned. "Kill him and find the targets, no witnesses can be tolerated."

"Heh," the rain ninja pulled out a fistful of shuriken. "Hope you can dodge little leaf ninja."

The shuriken streaked through toward the bushin, only to be knocked away by shuriken from above.

"Huh?" the rain ninja looked up. "A clone!" the scattered, spinning outward, with one toward the first bushin, one toward the bug clone who'd thrown the blocking shuriken, and one away from both, his hands flashing to prepare jutsu. That last one stopped for a moment on a branch near the second bug clone.

This clone attacked.

The rain ninja aborted his jutsu, and whipped out a kunai to block a downward stroke. "Another clone?" he slashed through the bug clone's guard easily then, just as Shino had intended.

At the same moment the center rain ninja burst apart the first bug clone with a swift sword stroke. "Bugs?" he reacted immediately. "Watch out, it's a trap!"

It was already too late for the second ninja. He cut into Shino's bug clone and the clone burst apart, the insects retreating every way, but they triggered the explosion note at the center of the trap first, propelling the shuriken, kunai, and caltrops buried inside the swarm's form in every direction. The rain ninja was pierced by a dozen metal weapons and collapsed instantly.

_One down_, Shino noted.

The center rain ninja jumped backward, avoiding the clone he had just destroyed, even though it had not been trapped, while his other comrade slashed apart Shino's bushin. The clone dissipated in a puff of smoke, but it had served its purpose. The rain ninja had isolated himself from his comrade, who was still much further out.

Bugs rose up from the branches at Shino's command, creating a wall of swarming insects between the two ninja.

The rain ninja in front panicked, for now he couldn't see any enemy. Shino decided to provide him one, and revealed his last bug clone.

Having seen the fate of his comrade, the rain ninja did not engage closely, but held back, throwing kunai and shuriken at range.

The bug clone responded, but its limited skills could not compete with a true ninja and its form was shattered in moments. It burst apart, splashing darts everywhere, but there was no one in range, so the trap failed.

The rain ninja smiled.

However, that momentary fight with the clone had provided Shino with all the time he needed to complete his jutsu. "Caterpillar Silk no Jutsu!" he whisper, and the tree branch where the rain ninja stood became rapidly encased in gooey, clinging threads, wrapping about branch and ninja alike.

"A trap!" the rain ninja moved quickly to free himself, and likely would have escaped in moments, for the binding threads were not particularly strong, but Shino did not give his enemy those moments.

With a simple command the Aburame clan member collapsed his screen of bugs down onto the rain ninja.

The man screamed, and then fell silent as bugs poured into his mouth, eating his chakra away to nothing.

Shino had already put the ninja out of his mind, focusing on the final opponent.

That man had fallen back, away from Shino's wall of buzzing bugs.

"Stinking bugs," he hissed. "Flash of the storm no jutsu!"

A blinding flash split the forest, blinding everything, even Shino behind his dark sunglasses. When he could see again the enemy had retreated to a distance and his bugs reported shortly that it was past the edges of his screen. The escapee irritated Shino, but he knew he would have to insure the others' condition before pursuing. Forming another bushin, he sent it and his bugs to scout the situation.

Yi waited for her opponents with a strange eagerness. She was confident, but controlled, her great triumph over Ise's uncle had been paired with her equally shattering loss to the one called Itachi, and so while she understood the potency of her powers she was not going to be foolish. Still, Yi stood openly, willing to let her enemies see her clearly. _This is my first true battle as a Mist ninja; let me show these fools what it is to fight a Mizain of a village!_

The Warlord's appearance had shocked and awed Yi, this massive man who commanded with such ruthless ease, and the tremendous power of his voice. He spoke with an authority she had not seen in anyone since her father, and she understood that in Akai there was a true commander of men, whatever else he might be. He had placed his trust in her ability to complete her portion of the battle, and she absolutely refused to fail. Now that stubborn anger and surging pride fueled Yi, as she felt the power of Mizuho ready in her veins.

Yi saw he enemies approach, three rain ninja in a wide line, and jumped out to meet them. As she moved she threw the waterskin in her left hand, followed by the kunai in her right, so that she burst apart the bag above their heads as they came on.

Droplets of water spilled down before the rain ninja, and then burst into flame.

"Scatter!" the center one called, and the ninja dispersed.

Yi's hands flashed through seals. "Crashing Spray no jutsu!"

The massive blast of water streamed forth behind her right hand, surging toward the enemy ninja.

With simplistic ease the rain ninja dogged, and the blast of water fell to the ground.

Yet they had moved aside, which had been Yi's only goal with the technique, that, and to place liquid all about the battlefield. She jumped down into the aftermath of her jutsu, and came up on the ground covered in water.

"Burning Liquid Skin!"

"Monster!" one of the rain ninja spat.

"Maybe so," Yi answered. "But you're the fools who think you can capture me! Lurid Tendrils of Demon Fire no Jutsu!"

Thin tendrils, like those of a jellyfish, split of from Yi's burning form, moving as she directed, streaking towards her enemies.

The rain ninja dodged aside, knowing the deadliness of those tentacles of flaming liquid, but one was not fast enough. He avoided the tentacles, but was too close, and as they snapped back toward him he found burning water splattering all over his body.

With a scream of pain the rain ninja stumbled and fell, and tendrils of burning water wrapped around his body. Mizuho burned slowly in such small amounts, but paralyzed by pain the rain ninja could not escape, and his screams provided a horrid background sound to the continuing battle.

"Stand back," the lead rain ninja called to his companion. "We can't get close, so I'll settle it from here." He began a long count of seals.

"So, you think you can blast me down with jutsu?" Yi's anger rose at the thought. "How foolish," She placed her hands before her, holding them in the seals of Mizuho, with a gap of perhaps a foot between her straight fingers, and began to spin her hands in tight circles, counter to each other. "Do you know what happens in the deepest seas? Pressure can hold water so that it becomes far colder than ice, but is still liquid. Now, if such liquid is also made to burn…" Yi's hands spun faster and faster, even as the rain ninja's voice rose in crescendo. A strange spinning sphere of black water took form between Yi's hands.

"Metal Rain no Jutsu!"

"Sphere of Liquid Ice and Fire!"

The rain ninja's jutsu called forth kunai and shuriken as plentiful as raindrops and propelled with all the force of a mighty storm, they streaked down like falcons even as Yi sphere shot forth from wide-flung hands to rise upward.

The sphere unraveled as it did, forming a whirling blast of water that froze everything it touched. In the instant the sphere passed over a branch the unbearable cold crystallized it, and then the shattering affect of Mizuho came over it, and the branch shattered into a thousand flaming shards.

The same way went the weapons of the rain ninja. Metal darts smashed into that storm of water and fell away as nothing but molten bits of metal, falling to the ground with no force whatsoever.

The rain ninja tried to react, but Yi's sphere of destruction only expanded, and the first rain ninja's attempt to dodge was a failure, and his body was smashed into melted pieces. The leader, who had summoned his darts, understood that dodging would be futile. He ripped umbrellas from his back and spun them about him. "Wall of Rainclouds no jutsu!" he desperately completed the technique as Yi's inconceivable blast struck him.

When the blast cleared Yi watched through her flaming covering as the rain ninja staggered out from behind his umbrellas, his clothes smashed and smoking, but still alive. "Bitch!" he hissed, and he dropped smoke bombs at his feat and retreated.

"Running won't save you!" Yi called.

The Mizain girl let her covering of burning water fall away, and leaped up into the trees once again. There she saw Ise and Shino advancing toward her.

"Yi, what's the situation?" Ise called out.

"Two dead, one escaped," she answered.

"So, the same for us all," Shino noted.

"It must be the jounins who escaped each of us," Ise told the others. "They'll circle back I'm sure."

"So let's meet them head on," Yi replied. "They've already run once."

"They could have a few tricks left," Ise cautioned.

"I think we can override everything they do," Yi overrode with a savage grin. "Shino, can your bugs catch them at full speed?"

"Yes," Shino answered. "But not in a high enough quantity to do any damage."

"Don't worry about that, I'll provide the damage, they can survive getting a little wet right?"

It suddenly dawned on the others just what Yi had planned, and Ise couldn't help but smile as well. "How harsh," he grinned. "They probably won't expect it. Shino hide the bugs above. I'll provide a wide ranging water jutsu, one they won't be able to dodge, and won't bother, because it won't be enough by itself to burn seriously. Yi ignites it, and you bugs finish the job."

Shino nodded, and bugs emptied out from his body, headed in the direction noted.

Only moments later the three rain jounin appeared on tree branches before the trio.

"You've been major pests," the one on the right noted. "But we'll get rid of you now."

Ise wasn't in the mood to hear them talk. _Better to strike now, while they think to goad us._ "Enveloping Mist no Jutsu!"

Mist wafted up from below, blanketing the area. It was normally a concealment measure, one designed to confuse an enemy. The rain ninja, being versed in water techniques, easily knew how to navigate the mist, and would get around it almost instantly. Ise, however, was betting on them anticipating it would catch fire.

They reacted appropriately, jumping free of the mist to avoid it becoming a flaming mass of water. They completely missed the bugs falling through the blanket of mist from above.

By itself, the water in the mist was much dispersed, but as the bugs fell through they accumulated it on their chitin, becoming slicked in cases of water, carrying in on their legs, backs, jaws, and wings. As the jounin burst out, they looked back to see the bugs blast out behind them.

"Mizuho!"

Then the bugs caught fire.

The swarm, burning with rippling flames like a dark cloud summoned from hell, turned and ran down the rain ninja. The men tried to dodge and weave, and succeeded in avoiding the vast majority of bugs, enough so that they would be useless if attacking on their own.

But they were attacking with Mizuho.

Rain ninja screamed as the bugs grasped and clung, even when they tried to slap them away the bugs simply flew to another part of the body, the splashing of this motion creating more burning points. The jounin struggled for a moment, and then resistance ceased, as they were burned away beneath a clinging coating of water.

"Not bad," Akai spoke from behind the three ninja, making them all, even Shino, jump slightly. "A highly creative technique that would have few counters. All the enemies are accounted for now then?"

"Yes Warlord," Ise answered.

"Good, then we're done here," Akai turned to Shino. "You," he began harshly. "I hope you understand that your presence is somewhat difficult. There's no treaty between our countries and there likely never will be. Your assistance is appreciated but you'd best get going. If you meet any of us again it might well be as enemies."

"Understood," Shino answered, and he turned to go.

"Shino," Ise interjected. "I do thank you for this." Standing next to him Yi nodded as well.

"I'll keep it in mind," Shino replied, and his bushin faded away into a puff of smoke.

"Heh," Akai grunted. "Not bad for a leaf ninja, not bad at all." He turned back to Ise and Yi. "Let's go, that summons brought me here, but unlike a summoned beast I have to walk back, so the sooner we return to Mist the better."

"As you command," the pair answered in unison.


	31. Chapter 27 Completed Arsenal

**Author's Notes: **So this is it, the last chapter, the end of the tale. Everything will be wrapped up. There's of course a short epilogue to follow, and my afterword, but all things end here. I hope everyone enjoyed this story and thanks.

**Chapter 27 – A Completed Arsenal**

It was a three day journey to the coast, and the nearest port town of any reasonable size. Akai pushed his younger subordinates hard, his own long legs and veteran experience carrying him across the land in great ground-consuming strides. It was all Ise and Yi could do to keep up. Thus, they reached the port town early, just after dawn on the third day. Akai did not bother taking in the town, but simply made for the docks immediately.

"We'll charter a ship to take us to a larger port, and then make the full journey to Mist. Hopefully there is a fast vessel in port," he all but dragged Ise and Yi to follow.

At the docks, however, there was little good news. All the fastest ships had left recently, with the end of the winter storms, and none had come back yet. Most of the remaining vessels were local. The harbormaster told Akai that it would likely be two days at least before any ship to carry them arrived. The Warlord accepted the news, but his irritation was clear. He wished to be back at his post in Mist immediately.

Akai took his irritation out on Ise and Yi, marching the tired ninja outside of town and forcing them to demonstrate the full extent of their skills, until they had not an ounce of chakra remaining. The Warlord was impressed by both of them, but neither Ise nor Yi felt well disposed to appreciate it at the moment.

"Good," Akai said when they were done. "You two make up two thirds of what Mist needs to meet the threat of the coming years. Excellent, it seems the plan was a full success."

"Two thirds?" Ise and Yi asked together.

"You two will make up part of a three man team," Akai stared directly into their eyes. "A team that will destroy the enemies of Mist and be completely unstoppable."

"Um, who's the third member?" Yi questioned.

"I am," a soft voice spoke from behind Yi.

Yi and Ise spun around, and the Warlord's head jerked up to see a very short girl standing behind them both, dressed in a mist ninja uniform.

_How did she appear there_? Ise was shocked. _Her scent is unfamiliar, but I can feel her now. She must have closed the gap in an instant. That is unbelievable speed. Who is this girl?_

She was indeed strange, wearing a uniform colored an unusual azure shade, much brighter than the standard Mist uniform, and with a stance that should have been unbelievably uncomfortable held with perfect normality. Her hair was short, and she was herself shorter than Yi, a very small girl, but her body held such obvious compact power that both the shark-blooded ninja and Mizain stepped back from her.

"How are you here?" Akai asked, clearly surprised, but not nearly so shocked as Yi or Ise at the ninja girl's appearance.

"Good afternoon sensei," she replied. "I have been searching for you by the pheromone I placed on you before."

"Pheromone?" Ise asked. "I don't smell anything."

"Even your nose, chunin Hoshigake Ise, will not detect it," the girl told him. "It is not something a nose can detect, but something else."

There was something in the way those words were spoken that triggered Ise's memory, reminding him of a moment long ago, of words spoken before he left the village. "You are Stomatoa Saki," he recognized.

"Yes," she answered, and then turned to Yi. "You are the Mizain?"

"Yes," Yi responded cautiously. "I am Mizain Yi."

"I am pleased to meet you then," Saki told her. She extended her hand. It was a strange motion for she held her hand upside down, her arm bent inward. Cautiously, Yi took that small hand in her own and shook it. "I hope we will work well together," Saki smiled softly, the only motion she had performed so far that was at all human.

"So, we are to be a team Warlord?" Ise asked Akai.

"Indeed, though I did not expect to announce it so soon," Akai scowled. "Even if you had a way to track me," Akai's voice revealed that though he had not known about it this did not surprise him, something that only made Ise and Yi even more awed by Saki. "How did you get here from Mist so quickly?"

"Tsuki Kendai of the Seven Swordsmen brought me," Saki replied. "Mizukage ordered her to bring you back as soon as possible."

"The Lunar Lady is here?" Ise blurted.

"Ten miles north, she waits in a town there," Saki answered frankly. "When night falls she can return all of us to Mist."

"One of the Seven Swordsmen can do that?" Yi looked at Ise.

"Moonlight Walk, it is one of her powers," Akai answered instead. "It is most useful in many situations." He turned to the three ninja. "Well then, it was intended to have this announced formally by Mizukage, but I see no need to not tell you now. You three will be appointed a special team of three. You will report only to the Seven Swordsmen and Mizukage himself. Chunin Hishigake Ise, you will lead this team. A great trust is being placed in your hands, do not fail."

"I will not Warlord, or I shall die first," Ise saluted, hastily standing formally. "May I ask, what will be the purpose of this team?"

"You are charged with the destruction of the fugitive organization known as the Akatsuki and the death of all its members as well as the fugitive Orochimaru and servants." Akai replied.

Ise took in a breath sharply. "As you command Warlord. Are we to begin immediately?"

"Ha!" Akai laughed. "No, I told you Ise, you had three years to complete your mission. Since you have finished early, there is a great deal of training left to make you fully ready. Now, let's go, I want to get back to Mist as soon as possible."

Ise turned to his teammates. "I'm ready, Yi?"

"To serve with you, always," she smiled genuinely.

"Saki?"

"I will always obey, though I hope I will like this."

"Then let's go," Ise told them. "I do not face the prospect of the Akatsuki without fear, but with the Mizukage's confidence and the guidance of the Seven Swordsmen I am sure the three of us can destroy them."

The others nodded, and they fell into step behind the tall form of the Warlord, heading swiftly to return to the storm-swept island of Mist.


	32. Epilogue and Afterword

**Epilogue – A Twist of Fate**

"So you failed, that was unexpected, and unfortunate," it was a dark voice, laced with cruelty, and assured power.

"It was the shadow-souled," Itachi answered the accusation, rubbing the small thin scars across his palms. "I was not prepared for him, so we were delayed. Somehow, they overcame Kisame's men."

"Therefore, Mist now retains the power of Mizuho, a power that has already proven a match for one of us, and the Hoshigake seems potent as well. This could prove troublesome. We may have to recalculate our plans."

"I do not believe that is necessary," Itachi answered. "They may have caught us by surprise once, but it's nothing that can't be handled."

"Besides," Kisame added. "No matter what, there's only the two of them."

"That's true," the dark voice acknowledged. "Then we will go on as before, but remain cautious of this."

Itachi nodded, but he could not help feel a strange trepidation. _Only two of them?_ The Uchiha suddenly had a strange vision in the back of his mind, of a pair of eyes formed of nothing but shimmering rainbow hues, inhuman and impenetrable. Without knowing why, he suddenly shivered.

Looking away from the dance of flames Mizain Yuki smiled. "So, everything has proceeded as I planned," he whispered. "The villages will survive, but not unscathed, all possible paths point to a time to strike. Foolish men, Orochimaru, Akatsuki, to plan only a short time in the future. The strength of the ninja is in planning for lifetimes."

Yet even as he said this, Yuki caught the last flicker of the dancing flames, and saw a cold premonition of something rise from the sea. In that moment he could not help but wonder if there was someone who had planned even more thoroughly than he.

**End.**

**Forged in Water Afterword**

So, Forged in Water is done. It's 107,720 words according to the word counter and 179 pages of Microsoft Word document. It marks the third novel length work I've completed (two fanfictions and one original piece). My thoughts on this piece are rather different than for Behind Killer's Eyes, my previous fanfic. So I thought I put them down in case people are interested.

I am pleased with how this story turned out, but not as much with Behind Killer's Eyes, strangely, because I think the characters in this were better and the plot more dramatic. However, I think I pinpointed the reasons. Critically Forged in Water ends in the middle, the story of Ise, Yi, and Saki does not actually end here obviously, but neither will I continue to write anything more. Linked to this is that Forged in Water lacks a real villain, the people that are fought are mostly just obstacles in the way to Ise completing his mission the Akatsuki make their appearance, but its brief and the confrontation is not the meaningful one that will take place in the future. So, that's kind of left an empty feeling for me here at the end. Still, since the story of these characters wouldn't legitimately end until well after the real story of Naruto probably will, and would require basically the complete destruction of the Naruto universe to continue, it will stay where it is now.

From that, I'll move onto something else. Behind Killer's Eyes came to be through a strong interest I developed in Neji, but Forged in Water was motivated to writing through a lot of anger. This story takes a lot of fairly clear shots at the ideology of Naruto, a set of beliefs I have come more and more to believe are totally incompatible with the word ninja. That's why this story is so very dark and angry. Still, I think it gave me something interesting to explore. This is a story about being born a monster, in three very different ways, and what happens to people who are that way. There are some weird ideas in here, and they aren't very happy even at best, but I hope they cut fairly deep at times.

The strangest thing about Forged in Water is that it is a fanfiction, but one that involves none of the main plots actual characters (well, at least as anything more than cameo roles). I liked doing this, and believe it should be done more, especially in a world like Naruto. I tried to show that they was more to things than the struggle of a few genin from Leaf village, and that other countries had a hand in great decisions of the past. That I believe is the real strength of Forged in Water, and I think it showed off the best. I liked taking Mist village and rain village ad giving them some life.

Beyond that there are only the characters, and I'd like to share a few thoughts on each. Also, I sort of tie each character in some way to a particular song, and I'll identify those as well, perhaps others will find it fitting.

Hoshigake Ise: The protagonist, Ise, is the man bearing a heavy burden, cursed by a harsh bloodline, a harsh past, and the scorn of others, he suffers much the same as someone like Sasuke could be expected to, but is a very different person. Instead of a drive for vengeance Ise reacted to betrayal by striving to prove his loyalty, a conviction that only grows as the story progresses. I like Ise, both for his shark-ness (such great animals) and his general level headness. In some ways he reminds me of Gosain from Behind Killer's Eyes, simply with all the nasty consequences of the Hoshigake bloodline. To me, Ise, though the weakest of the three weapons of Mist, is definitely their leader. He may be the best protagonist I've created so far, a multi-faceted person with a series of very real choices behind him.

Ise's theme is "Wings of Despair" by Kamelot

Mizain Yi: In many ways the story centers on what is happening to Yi, because she is the trigger for so many events. This somewhat hurt her character early, because she was so constantly desperate and her world was falling apart, but it allowed me to gradually build her up. She was a hard character to write, in part because of her situation and in part because of her abilities. To have that kind of driving anger inside of you, it would be so strange, impossible to really imagine. I realy felt Yi came into her own in the desert chapters, and I was really proud of her scene with the sand ninja, which was a real challenge to write convincingly. Interestingly, this is the third long work I've written, and all have had strong dual male/female lead roles. It's something I seem to do commonly. By the way, if anyone was wondering about the pseudo-romantic element between Ise and Yi I'll lead it up to each reader to decide exactly how far things go between them. I really never made a decision myself, aside from them being the very closest of friends.

Yi's theme is "Higher the Hope" by Nightwish

Shiro: The original reason for Shiro's existence is very simple: I was certain from the beginning that I wanted Ise and Kisame to fight, but Itachi is always with Kisame, so I needed a way to take care of that. This resulted in the whole shadow-souled trick, a great bit of character work for Yi, and one really great fight sequence between Shiro and Itachi. It occurred to me almost immediately after I created him that having and eyeless ninja fight Itachi would just make for a great moment. I like how Shiro was there, and he fulfilled his purpose well I believe.

Shiro's theme is "Nemo" also by Nightwish

Stomatoa Saki: those who have read the aborted 'Storm Chains' know that Saki was originally a character in that tale. I am somewhat enthralled by Stomatopods (mantis shrimp) which are really just cooler and deadlier than anything else out there. Therefore Saki was able to jump into this story easily enough. She serves to illustrate a very different way to make a weapon than Ise or Yi, and really the ultimate extension of the mist ninja ideal. She's very scary, very, very powerful, and good fun. She also worked as a story device by which I could let Akai and Mizukage speak to her, revealing things about the Mist ninja world. I hope others found her to be fun as well.

Saki's theme is ".Strange" by Son of Rust

The 6th Mizukage: The Mizukage marks the second major Kage I have detailed in the fanfic (after the Raikage in Behind Killer's Eyes). He's a very interesting character to me, a true pragmatist, and a man who concerns himself only with the results and not the morality of the situation until it is over. I worked very hard with him to try and come up with a legitimate explanation for the supposed persecution of the bloodline clans (something that initially doesn't make much sense, why kill you best ninja?). I believe the explanation I derived is a decent one, and the Mizukage's unrepentant damnation is one of the most interesting and disturbing concepts I've ever played with.

The Mizukage's theme is "Puritania" by Dimmu Borgir

The Warlord Akai: Now Akai is an intriguing character. He is not a nice person, not heroic at all. He highlights all the differences between a village like the Leaf, where he would be considered a villain, and the village of Mist, where he is much valued. Akai has only two redeeming qualities, he's effective, and he's loyal. His presence is very important to the story, and he was just plain fun to write with in his one major combat scene. I quite proud of his character, because he seems very believable and I like nasty believable people. He is also basically the same at the end of the story as he was at its conception, which was good because he was not meant to be changed by it, and I think it was excellent that the character held together throughout. In the end it really all comes back to Akai. It should be noted that Akai very deliberately has no surname; this is meant to symbolize how he has no life beyond being a ninja, and no true family.

Akai's theme is "Requiem for the Innocent" by Kamelot

I think that covers all the major characters. I do note that Aburame Shino had a guest appearance in this story, twice actually. I really like his character, and I found writing his fight sequence at the end was just great. I'm already working on a new project involving him, so for those disappointed in the ending here, look forward to that.


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